Vettori throws weight behind SRH batting unit after rare blip

Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori backed his batting unit despite a top-order collapse that saw them bowled out for 86, suffering a record loss to Gujarat Titans in the IPL on Tuesday.

Vettori called it a rare blip for a batting order that has excelled with a hyper-attacking approach, saying the team was "under no illusions around the way that they've been playing".

"We knew we needed to get off to a good start and that's what we weren't able to do," Vettori said. "If they'd scored 200 it would have been incredibly difficult. But 169 we thought we had a chance.

"As always, you have to start well and we didn't tonight. I don't put any blame on the batting unit. They've been exceptional this year. Every team throughout the IPL is going to have their small blips once in a while."

The Titans defended 168, the second-lowest total successfully defended this season, handing SRH their biggest defeat by runs in the IPL.

GT's Sai Kishore said 170 felt like par on a pitch that was damp and seaming, adding that the team's batting made the surface "look much better than what it was".

He praised Sai Sudharsan's "wonderful innings" and Nishant Sindhu's intent in the middle overs.

The win was set up by the Titans' seamers in the Powerplay. Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj have been the most successful new-ball pair this year, taking 21 wickets in the Powerplay when bowling together unchanged.

"Overall, this season, Siraj and Rabada have been hitting their lengths very well," Kishore said. "That is the advantage of having proper Test-match bowlers in your line-up."

He credited Shubman Gill and Ashish Nehra for bowling philosophies on lengths in the powerplay: "Not depending on slower balls or yorkers, trusting hard length on this wicket. Bowling proper Test-match bowling has made a huge difference."

Kishore added that on placid pitches, GT bowlers can adapt: "Rabada, Prasidh, Siraj, Holder are all very good with yorkers and slower ones. But on this wicket with purchase, you have to be brave. If the wicket is placid, we'll be smart enough to bowl yorkers, slow ones, slow bumpers. We are equipped for it."