Dubai: Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody announced before his team’s Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Kings XI Punjab at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday that he had plans to stop star man Glenn Maxwell. Unfortunately, though, his bowlers could not do it and Maxwell thrashed Hyderabad bowlers to hit a whirlwind 95.
So the first question from journalists to Moody after Maxwell’s knock that blew away his team’s chances was why his plans went awry? Moody insisted that his plans did not go wrong but luck, which is also an important factor in Twenty20 cricket, did not assist him.
“We had our plans. As you may have noted, we didn’t bowl Dale Steyn two overs in a row with the intention that we would pick up a wicket before the fifth over, which Dale was bowling. The bottom line is we didn’t take our chances against a player that’s in white-hot form and we chased 40 more runs than we should have done.”
When Gulf News asked if there is no way to stop Maxwell, Moody said: “At the end of the day, we can talk about Maxwell as long as we like. He is a wonderful striker of the ball. He is in incredibly good form at the moment, but when he gets dropped on 11 and then in the same over, gets dropped again, and then gets caught on a no ball, you know, he’s gonna hurt you. That’s what happened tonight.”
Moody also strongly backed his bowlers, insisting. “The bowlers shouldn’t have done any more than what they did. We bowled, I thought, very well. We just missed our chances. I thought Karn Sharma bowled particularly well to Maxwell. We had our chance to take him and we didn’t take him, and we paid the price,” he said.
Moody went on to defend Warner, who dropped a catch off a Maxwell shot. “During the first 10 overs, the lights were on in the stadium next door, and it came straight out of the lights on the neighbouring stadium, and he just totally lost it. Again, Warner is a world-class fielder. I don’t think I have ever seen him drop an outfield catch. As we saw afterwards, he took two similar catches very simply.”
Is Moody worried about his team’s batting form? “Look, if we are chasing 150, I think it’s a different pressure on your top order. When you are chasing over 190, it’s a completely different ball game for your top order. So look, it’s certainly no time for us to be panicking about our top order, or about the fact that we are two-zip.”
Moody added that his team would bounce back in a big way. “Look, it’s not ideal. I much rather be two-up from two [games], but the simple fact is we are not. We’ve got a world-class top order and that’s proven over time. It hasn’t happened overnight. So I’ve got absolute confidence that the top order will fire and will put us in positions where we will win games.”
