Warner’s switch hit wasn’t what lost us match: Bhuvi
David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan couldn’t maintain a brisk run-rate in their opening stand of 81 runs but it was a good platform from where they could have launched the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.
Warner, who became the leading overseas batsman in the IPL, used the pace of the bowlers and chose the angles well to help himself to seven fours in his innings of 49.
He perished trying to hit Harbhajan by attempting the switchhit and the Sunrisers innings never took off. In fact, Warner had smashed the previous ball off the Mumbai Indians offie for a six but fell in his attempt to repeat the shot in the 11th over. Some felt, Warner could have avoided that shot.
However, teammate Bhuvneshwar Kumar refused to blame Warner’s switch hit attempt as the trigger for their four-wicket defeat.
“When he bats in the nets, out of 20 minutes, he bats five minutes right-handed. He plays these kind of shots, just like AB de Villiers, so we were not really surprised seeing that shot because we know he plays that shot well,” Bhuvneshwar said.
“Nothing was wrong with the start, it was a good start but it was just one of those days when things didn’t go our way,” the pacer added.
One of other talking points was Mustafizur Rahman struggling to find his rhythm in his first game and going for 30 runs in two overs. But Bhuvneshwar backed his teammate.
“Mustafizur will bounce back. He did really well in the last season, he was our main bowler. He knows what to do, he is doing well in international cricket.”