In his efforts to explain how his team performed poorly in batting during the IPL final against Kolkata Knight Riders, SRH assistant coach Simon Helmot admitted that their intention to be aggressive went awry early in the game. “It all came down to some good deliveries,” added Helmot.
SRH managed 113 runs before going down by eight wickets. On Sunday night at Chennai, KKR successfully chased down the target with more than 10 overs remaining and won their third IPL title.
“We didn’t actually plan on changing our brand or approach. We wanted to be positive but also use our heads and play the situation,” said Helmot in the post-match press conference.
“We certainly didn’t plan to get bowled out for 113 in the 18th over. We did play a very positive game but a few good balls (by KKR bowlers) upfront got us on the back foot. Unfortunately, it was one of those days,” he added.
The SRH top-order struggled as they batted first with three of their batsmen getting single digit figures by being bowled out. Left-arm quick Vaibhav Arora knocked over big-hitting opener Travis Head for his third duck in four games.
“Travis is an experienced player of left-arm pace. We have had games where both he and Abhishek (Sharma) have contributed runs” remarked the Australian.
“Obviously we couldn’t get as much from him (Head) as we would have liked but it was quite a nice ball to dismiss him,” he commented further.
He then commended KKR’s season-long performance stating that Shreyas Iyer-led team operated with an aggressive mindset throughout.
“KKR deserves credit,” said Helmot, adding, “they’ve had a great season, winning 79% of their matches and playing aggressive cricket with bat – ball – fielding.”
“But we’ll come back next season hard,” he promised.
“They are a very balanced team having four seamers and two very well-rounded spinners. They have been an excellent side with a good depth in their batting line-up, thus, are worthy winners of this IPL,” he concluded.
Andre Russell had three wickets for KKR fast bowlers on a day when they had the ball in their hands, while Mitchell Starc and Harshit Rana both took two wickets each.
Rana has been the talking point of the season, just behind Varun Chakravarthy in terms of most number of wickets taken by any player from his team.
“He is a crafty competitor. He’s got some tricks especially with his faster balls and full length ones. Also, he’s got those slower ones.” Helmot went on to say concerning Rana.
“He definitely can adapt. India is blessed with a pool of quick bowlers and that is what the IPL often brings out, which is great news for Indian cricket team. We will also be looking for many more players like him.”
When asked about the positives SRH can take from this season, Helmot lauded pacers T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar plus all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy
“At the end I think Nattu and Bhuvi had fabulous finishes to the season; along with Nitish Reddy who could be one of the best fielders in this tournament too”, replied Helmot after being asked about his thoughts on best players from his side in previous edition
“…it was no accident that we turned things around from last year’s tail-end finish” This will provide us with momentum going into next year,” he said at last.
