Despite loss vs CSK, Sunrisers Hyderabad defend picking Carlos Brathwaite for death overs

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Kane Williamson defended picking Carlos Brathwaite — playing only his second match in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) — to bowl the 18th over against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), which eventually proved a costly move in the Qualifier

With 43 needed off 18 balls, Brathwaite was hammered for 20 runs by Faf du Plessis (67 not out), for three fours and a six, which changed the course of the match.

Williamson defended his decision by saying SRH consider Brathwaite as one of the death-over bowlers.

“Yeah, certainly we backed Carlos with his death bowling. That’s why he’s in this side, as another death option. Unfortunately, that’s the game we play and when you’re under pressure sometimes life gets a little bit tough and credit to the way Faf batted, he batted beautifully,” Williamson said.

Despite having the option of choosing between his main bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Siddarth Kaul, Williamson picked Brathwaite.

The SRH skipper said while explaining his part, “Yeah, both are great. In terms of spinners on that surface, you always weighing up I guess who to go with and for us we have such good seam death bowlers and we always back those guys.

“So it’s a balance but you just weigh it up on the right surface. If it stops and turns then sometimes that spin option is nice to have. It was offering a little bit for the spin, but they had to bowl well to get it out of it so we’re backing our seamers,” he said.

“In terms of choosing between those two, they are both very good operators. Siddharth in his over before executed beautifully so we wanted to keep that rhythm going. And you know a few near misses and a little bit of fortune, a few edges and that’s sort of the way it goes,” Williamson added.

The skipper said his side could have taken ‘smart decisions’ while batting after they lost the toss.

“I think with the bat, we could have taken some better options in order to get maybe another 15/20 on that surface. I think we could have taken a few smart options to get a bit more on the board. But the way we fought back with the ball…,” he elaborated.

Williamson rued the edges off Shardul Thakur’s bat in the penultimate over of the innings which shunned the doors for SRH.

“A few balls here and there, and at the death I think, when it’s a low scoring game, a couple of edges… you know, it’s such a fine line. It was just a shame. We always backed ourselves to close games out from that point, but saying that there’s a number of other areas that we would like to touch on going into our next game,” Williamson said.

He added, “Death bowling for us is a strength, but today CSK played well and showed their depth with the bat. Obviously, Thakur coming in and he can obviously hit the ball a bit as well and proved to be effective. Frustrating, but we’re off to Kolkata and it’s important we show some signs of improvement there.