Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner has heaped praises on youngsters Priyam Garg and Abhishek Sharma after the duo bailed out their team from a top-order collapse and helped the Orange Army in beating Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday.
“It was nice to see our guys back themselves – that was my message to these youngsters,” said Warner in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“I said it in my press conference – when these guys don’t get opportunity to bat, it’s going to be difficult for them. I asked them what they thought was a good total, they said 150, we got 160-170. These guys assessed the conditions and played well, so really really proud of them,” he added.
Priyam Garg (51 off 26 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (31 off 24) played important knocks and helped their team in crossing the 150+ mark after they were reduced to 69/4 in 11 overs. Their efforts were helped by Manish Pandey (29 off 21) as well.
It was Garg’s first-ever IPL half-century and a memorable one too. He was adjudged the Man of the Match for his heroics at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. He had only managed to score 12 the last time he got to bat in the tournament
“I felt very good in there, because it’s a big stage with senior players. I wasn’t thinking too much, just playing my natural game,” said Garg.
“I think the best thing is the team management backed me after I failed in the first game.
“The plan was to play my shots and their bowling helped. I’ve batted with Abhishek throughout my childhood so it was easy. There’s a positive energy in the field too after such an innings. My self-belief has grown after the knock,” the youngster added.
Batting first, Hyderabad posted a competitive total of 164 before restricting CSK to 157/5. The result at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium saw CSK dropping to the bottom of the points table.
The script was similar in both the innings as both the sides witnessed a top-order collapse with their middle-order trying to salvage pride.
Chasing, CSK were down to 42/4 in the ninth over before skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (47 off 36 balls) and all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (50 off 35) tried to get their team back into the contest.
With the required run-rate continuously mounting and Jadeja getting out, Dhoni and Sam Curran (15 not out) then tried their best to chase down the target by going for big hits. However, it wasn’t enough to stop SRH from registering their second consecutive win of the tournament.