'Taking the game deep and keeping wickets in hand helped' - Sai Sudharsan

Taking the game deep and pacing the inning accordingly on a slowish Ahmedabad wicket was the primary reason behind Gujarat’s success against Hyderabad, said Sai Sudarshan who also pointed out that going after opposition’s main spinner Mayank Markande in the 16th over of the run chase was the game changing moment in the match.

Chasing 164 for the win, Gujarat were 78/2 at the halfway mark of the innings. Sudarshan and David Miller then added 64 runs to keep GUJ on track, with 24 runs coming in the 16th over bowled by leg spinner. The equation, which was 49 off 30, became a whole lot easier for GUJ after that over and they proceeded to win that game with five balls to spare. 

"Definitely it was a difficult wicket to bat on, not so easy where you can go after every bowler in every over. It's about choosing the right bowler, getting the maximum out of it and taking the games deep with wickets in hand," said Sudharsan. "It's all about the situation, when the team needs more run rate, obviously we need to step up. But today, it was a different scenario, it was a different wicket. I felt taking the game deep and keeping wickets in hand helped us today.

"The wicket got a lot bit easier under the lights. And we also changed the momentum because the run-rate was going up as well. Playing against spinners got a bit easier and that helped us target the spinners as well. We were waiting for that one spin over, it was a conscious decision of taking down the spinner and it went our way, so grateful for that," he said.

The spin bowling coach of Hyderabad, Mutthiah Muralidharan also believed that the 16th over made the difference. "The wicket was a little slow and low, and there was a little spin. We thought of getting close to 180-170, we missed out by 10-15 runs. They bowled really well and we couldn't capitalise. Even 160 is a manageable total. We were in the game till the 15th over. The 16th over we had to take a gamble - because they had lost only three wickets and then we took a gamble bowling Mayank against two left handers. We knew they would go hard in that over and they might mis-time and we can get a wicket. It didn't work."

Sudarshan was also full of praise for the Gujarat bowlers, who did a fine in restricting a potent HYD batting line-up. The visitors had crossed the 100-run mark in the 13th over and were on the verge to make the final push, with Heinrich Klassen in baleful form. But back to back to back dismissals of Klassen and Aiden Markram slowed the momentum and GUJ came up with a good bowling performance in the death, led by Mohit Sharma, who finished the game with excelled figures of 3/25. 

“They were going with very good momentum, they were getting a lot of boundaries in the powerplay. So everybody felt it might go to 170-180 but we took wickets at the right time and at the end the last five overs were extraordinary from our bowlers. We had a conversation in the timeout, on pulling the team back, because they were maybe 10-12 runs ahead of what we thought," Sudharsan said.

Muralitharan added: "The way Mohit bowled, it was difficult for our batters. We also thought that our bowlers adjusted. Pretty good game. We can't expect every game to go our way. Our boys tried really hard. There will be small mistakes. So, we have to make sure we don't do that in the next game so we can get into a winning momentum."

Meanwhile, the spin wizard from Sri Lanka also talked on how the unavailability of star player Wanindu Hasaranga has affected the balance of the side. However, he expressed hope that Hasaranga will be seen back in the mix in the coming days, in spite of reports suggesting that the SL all rounder has been ruled out of the tournament. 

"In the auction, we bought one of the best leg-spinners, Hasaranga. He is struggling with some niggles. He is hoping that he will join on the 4th or 5th [of April]. We don't know," Muralitharan said. "That is one area, [Daniel] Vettori, everybody covered [at the auction]. We couldn't get any Indian spinners because we had what we had, and also because no other team would put out [release] the best Indian spinners.

"The only option was Hasaranga. We took him. But unfortunately, he is saying he has some niggles. So, that's why our balance is a little bit here and there. It's unfortunate, it happens to teams. We didn't neglect, we got a spinner. But at the end of the day, it happens."