‘We are not gonna press the panic button’: Brian Lara after loss against CSK

After suffering a 7-wicket defeat at the hands of MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings, Sunrisers Hyderabad Head coach Brian Lara feels that the batters could have done better shot selection in the middle overs.
“When we went out to that strategic time out, that was the discussion. It was a little bit slow, a little bit of spin so it was difficult for the batters. Shot selection could have been different in those middle overs. But we are gonna move on from here.”
The head coach credited the CSK bowlers and said they bowled brilliantly.
“They bowled well. Credit has to be given. Also, the likes of Theekshana, Jadeja, they are the guys who don’t give you time to use your feet. Sometimes, playing across the line could be difficult.”
When quizzed about team’s batting performance, he said, “As an individual, a batter and a coach you gotta put your hands up if things are not working and I’m hoping when we look back at the performance.We have pretty mature players they understand they are not doing well and team comes first.”
“We are not gonna press the panic button,” he added.
Speaking on Harry Brook opening the innings, Lara revealed, “The experiment of trying to get Harry Brook up the order and produce a 100 and if you would ask what team we would want to have at the beginning of the tournament. You can see he(Harry Brook) has intention. If we had a fit Abhishek then it’d be Abhishek and Mayank Agarwal.”
“You don’t want to trouble the batting order too much. Rahul Tripathi is at number 3 position and he’s quite happy.”
“When you have a player like Mayank, he’s very committed, heart of the team and willing to do anything and he backs himself,” he added.

When asked about Washington Sundar’s batting, Lara said, “Washington’s value to the team is both to bowl and bat but we have players who can play at the top positions. With Washingston, yes we want him to be a great all-rounder with both bat and ball. I think it’s gonna take time.”