Sunrisers hope to soar high in IPL this season
hyderabad — Describing Sunrisers Hyderabad as a balanced side, the team’s chief coach Tom Moody and mentor Kris Srikkanth on Friday exuded confidence of a successful campaign in the upcoming Indian Premier League starting April 16 in Abu Dhabi.
“Obviously, we had a good campaign last year, given that it was our first IPL as Sunrisers Hyderabad. This year we feel confident again. We feel we have got a very good balance in our side that allows us to adapt,” Moody told reporters.
Sunrisers Hyderabad had reached the play-offs last year. Srikkanth said the “core team” has been retained this year and that would ensure continuity.
“As far as we are concerned, I think the team is well-prepared. One thing, I just want to add on to what Tom said regarding the team aspect is, we got the core team with us. “We have got Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma is right here, Karn Sharma is here. He was a member of last year’s team. We have of course Amit Mishra, Darren Sammy and Dale Steyn. The most important thing is we were able to manage somehow to get almost the core team. Last year, we gelled well together and did well. I think that’s a very important aspect,” he said.
Noting that all the IPL teams comprised good and talented players, Srikkanth felt that the competition this year will be evenly poised.
“Every team has planned it very well. One good thing about this IPL is, it is going to be an evenly-balanced tournament. Last couple of years, there were sides, which are at least on paper rated very weak. This time, all the eight teams have got good players. It is going to be a good tournament. It is going to be very well fought tournament,” he said.
Replying to a query, he said playing the earlier portion of the event in UAE and then coming back to India for the rest of the tournament may not be a big factor as conditions in both the countries are more or less similar.
“We are playing in two different countries, obviously, because of elections. I think we should thank the government of India for allowing us to come back half way and do the major part of tournament in India.
“I cannot compare with the good old days when we played in Sharjah. The wickets are similar to India. We expect them to be slightly on the slow side and probably on the turning side,” Srikkanth said. —