SRH coach Muttiah Muralitharan feels that rain-curtailed match cost them the defeat

The Eliminator of IPL 10 between KKR and SRH was full of uncertainties. For most of the time it looked that the match would be called off due to constant rains, but when the play finally resumed, it was KKR who had an advantage in the game. KKR had to score 48 runs in 6 overs, after curtailing SRH to 128/7 in the first inning.

Had the game been washed out the defending champions would have marched into the Qualifier 2 given their higher standing in the points table. A tad disappointed with how the team performed, their coach Muttiah Muralitharan said that the team had real good chances of making it to the finals provided the match against KKR was not interrupted by rain.

130 was a par score

Rains had started before the match itself but had stopped in time for the match to begin as per schedule. However, just after the last ball of the first innings, it started raining again and the match was then restarted at 12.55 am.

“I think overall if you see, the Bengaluru wicket this year was very low scoring. I thought 130 is a par score. I think with more runs on board and if you take two or three wickets in a 20-over game, we would have had a better chance than playing a six-over game,” Muralitharan told at the post-match press conference.

Bangalore wicket not great to play shots 

Muralitharan also opined that Hyderabad’s score was 10 runs short of what they would have liked at the end. He said they wanted to put up something around 140, and had they enjoyed a full match, their bowlers could have defended that target.

“The wicket is not that great to play shots here, because if you had played your shots, you would have been bowled out for 70-80 runs. We were thinking about putting 140 runs, and if we had a 20-over game, we had the bowling to defend. Unfortunately, we were 10 runs short. They bowled well as well,” he said.