Sunrisers Hyderabad was bubbling with confidence after it started its campaign in the group stage of the Champions League T20 with a thrilling four-wicket win over Trinidad and Tobago at the PCA Stadium here on Tuesday.
“We came into this part of the tournament with confidence. We have seen over time that T20 cricket is all about momentum. So it is nice to get that early win and some points on the board,” said SRH coach Tom Moody at the post-match press conference.
“We recognise that the next couple of games in Ranchi are going to be difficult games. But the positive thing from my perspective is we have got points on the board. We will be focusing on continuing to improve because it is not an easy competition. There are a lot of good sides.”
Moody showered praise on Thisara Perera, the hero of the win against T&T. “He proved again that he is a match-winner. He is not only capable of having an impact with the ball, but we saw tonight that he is a seriously dangerous player once he gets into that striking mode and there is no ground big enough.”
Impact player
Asked about T&T spinner Sunil Narine’s magic figures of four for nine, the SRH coach said, “We have seen him have such an impact in T20 cricket, particularly in this country, in the past. If you dissect those figures, the last wicket he got is neither here not there. It is more so the impact wickets that he takes. We recognised he was a threat and we did not want to lose key players to him.”
T&T coach David Williams also hailed Narine’s effort, but had no hesitation in accepting Perera’s effort in SRH victory.
