Capt Warner on His Message To Priyam & Abhishek When SRH Were 69/4

David Warner was pleased to see the two youngsters making most of their opportunity when they got 11 overs to bat

David Warner was happy and proud to see the team winning on the back of performances from youngsters in the team

(Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner seemed pleased with his side’s performances, especially with Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma who saved their team’s sinking ship and got Sunrisers’ score above 160.

Batting first, Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Chennai Super Kings by 7 runs on Friday.

When asked about throwing the 19-year old and 20-year old in the deep end, Warner said that they didn’t have any other option with the combination they are playing. He reiterated what he said in the earlier press conferences about giving freedom to the youngsters and backing their ability.

Sunrisers were 69/4 at the end of 11 overs with all of their top batsmen Bairstow, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson and Warner himself back in the hut. Sunrisers had Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma in the middle with 18-year old Abdul Samad to follow.

Both Garg and Sharma stitched an attacking partnership picking the right bowlers, taking calculative risks and took Sunrisers to a fighting total of 164/5 on a slow Dubai surface.

When asked if this performance by Garg and Sharma will solve the SRH’s middle-order woes, Warner said he couldn’t be more proud as both of them got time in the middle and executed their skills to the best of their abilities.

If you give the youngsters almost 11 overs to bat, you know they are gonna get some time out in the middle. The hardest thing is, you are playing a tournament where you are only getting 3-4 overs to play. It’s difficult to start hitting boundaries when you’re not getting too much of game exposure. The got some time in the middle and they went and executed their skills.

David Warner, Captain, Sunrisers Hyderabad

On his message to Garg and Sharma, Warner said, “I just said, go out there and bat, don’t worry about the scorecard, bat 20 overs, get as many runs as you can, [don’t worry if] you get out, it’s a game of cricket at the end of the day.”

On Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s injury, Warner wasn’t really sure of his condition and said that they would have to wait and see and speak to the physiotherapist and then can answer with more information.

Kumar pulled up in his run-up while bowling the penultimate over of the SRH innings and couldn’t bowl after that. Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed had to complete that over, with leg-spinner Samad bowling the last.

Lastly, Warner appreciated the left-arm bowler T Natarajan for his consistency at the death. He said that seeing him in the nets and with the surfaces in the United Arab Emirates, he fitted the mould of the bowler they required to bowl at the death and was happy to see him deliver the goods.