Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) suffered a heavy defeat in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 campaign opener against Rajasthan Royals at their home ground Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. After conceding 203/5, SRH never looked in the hunt and lost the game by 72 runs. Stand-in skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar feels that the team should forget the loss and move on.
“100 per cent we can say that, let's forget and move on, the way we pulled back in the last 6 overs and Umran's cameo at the end. We did not bowl pretty well, first match of the season and a lot to improve,” Bhuvneshwar said in the post-match presentation.
Bhuvneshwar had to lead the side as their newly-appointed skipper Aiden Markram was on national duty. Markram smashed a match-winning 175 against Netherlands in the second ODI to strengthen South Africa’s chances of qualifying directly for ODI World Cup in India later this year.
SRH were missing their three South African recruits – Markram, Marco Jansen and Heinrich Klaasen – and lacked firepower in their batting lineup to chase down a massive target of 204. Their Rs 13.25 crore recruit Harry Brook struggled on debut and got out without making an impact. Bhuvneshwar feels that the three Proteas players will help improve the team combination.
“South Africans are coming back and we definitely will be a much better batting side, we have to move forward from this game. It was a pretty good track, we can prepare what we want but we are not worried about that,” the veteran SRH pacer added.
SRH will face KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their next encounter at Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow on April 7 where Markram will be seen making his IPL captaincy debut. Wicketkeeper-batter Klaasen has been in good form of late. He hit the fourth-fastest ODI hundred last month. Also, Jansen has proved his worth not just as pacer but a middle-order batter as well.
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