“Dropping Manish Pandey was a harsh call as per my opinion”- SRH Skipper David Warner

Sunrisers Hyderabad benched Manish Pandey for the second consecutive time when they face Delhi Capitals in the Sunday night thriller. Virat Singh has been roped in place of Pandey. Ace cricketer Pandey was struggling to get quick runs from his bats in the initial 3 games, which saw him getting axed for the following 2. However, Virat Singh has been below average in the two games he has featured in.

Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner said dropping Manish Pandey was a “harsh” decision taken by selectors, after his team’s agonising ‘Super Over’ defeat against Delhi Capitals, on Sunday.

SRH middle order is below average and between Virat Singh, Kedar Jadhav, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan and Vijay Shankar, they got just 26 runs off 37 balls. Speaking of which, Manish Pandey can play a lot better than this and his experience & presence comes in handy to make a difference.

Speaking about Manish Pandey being dropped from the side, David Warner said, “It depends on the selectors; it was a harsh call as per my opinion (on leaving out Manish Pandey). But at the end of the day, it is a decision that they took, and you cannot discredit Virat. He’s a very good player, and the surface was difficult. They bowled well in the middle and made it challenging for us”

SRH now has benched wriddhiman Saha, Abdul Samad, Priyam Garg and Manish Pandey who are a lot better than few players included in playing XI. David Warner won’t be happy with the decisions made by selectors here.

Delhi Capitals were looking set for 180+ but death bowling helped SRH contain them by 159 runs. David Warner praised the SRH bowlers who restricted the explosive DC line-up to 159 despite an explosive start.

“The way our bowlers came back after the powerplay was fantastic. We knew on this surface if you get off to a flier, it is always going to be tough in the middle. The bowlers executed well. Vijay Shankar (3-0-19-0), who is not one of our strike bowlers, bowled fantastically and could have bowled him an extra one. That’s the handiness of having him in the middle, but the bowlers got us to a good total to chase,” said David Warne

Chasing 160 on a tough surface against Delhi Capitals, Kane Williamson found no support in the middle overs. Batting at No.9, Jagdeesha Suchith slammed an unbeaten six-ball 14 to support Williamson (66 from 51 balls) and helped the SRH tie the game, but the Delhi Capitals clinched a win in the Super Over.