Even after losing the match against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday, Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Brian Lara lauded T Natarajan’s effort with the ball. The left arm pacer was down with injury but then he made a terrific comeback, Lara reckoned. After conceding 17 runs in his first over, Natarajan went for just six runs in his next two overs. He also picked the crucial wickets of Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag.
“I was very, very impressed with Natarajan’s comeback. He got hit for runs in the first over but then comeback strongly in his last three overs,” Lara told reporters.
“At one point, we thought we would be chasing 220 plus but our bowlers did well at the back end of the game and restricted them to 203 for 5,” he said.
However, Rajasthan defeated Hyderabad by 72 runs and started their IPL 2023 campaign with a win on Sunday. According to Lara, it was because of two power plays they lost the match.
“If you split the game into two halves. We lost the first powerplay with the ball in our hands. And when we had the bats in our hands, we also lost the powerplay again.
“We lost both the powerplays in drastic ways. They got 85 with the bat, and then losing two wickets in the first over set you back when you are chasing over 200.
“We know where we are as a team. It came with a devastating defeat, but it’s just the beginning of the tournament and we will look to bounce back from here,” Lara stated.
It was a great all-around display by the Rajasthan players as batters like Jos Buttler, Jaiswal, and skipper Sanju Samson batted with full intensity and helped their team post a huge total of 203 runs in their 20 overs of quota. Royals’ bowlers on the other hand made sure that Hyderabad’s batters could not retaliate as Chahal starred with as he scalped 4 for 17.