HYDERABAD: After setting the IPL ablaze with a four-wicket haul in Lucknow Super Giants' five-wicket win, seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur emphasised the need for fair pitches in the competition to maintain a balance between bat and ball.
The 33-year-old, who was named Player of the Match for his figures of 4 for 34, helped restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 190/9.
"I feel bowlers get very little on this kind of pitches," Shardul said at the post-match presentation. "Even in the last game pre-match, I said that pitches should be prepared in such a way that the game hangs in the balance for batters and bowlers.
"Especially after the impact player rule, it's not fair on the bowlers if a team scores 240-250 runs."
Shardul, who went unsold at the auction, joined LSG as a replacement for the injured Mohsin Khan.
"I had made my plans. I had signed for County Cricket if I wasn't picked for IPL. While playing Ranji, I got a call from Zaheer Khan that we are looking at you as a potential replacement, so don't switch yourself off. If we get you, we'll need you to start. That was the day I got back in the IPL zone. Ups and downs keep happening. That was a bad day when I wasn't picked in the auction."
He made an immediate impact, dismissing Abhishek Sharma (6) and Ishan Kishan (0) in consecutive deliveries during his opening spell.
"Of course, some swing, and what we have seen is that Travis Head and Abhishek like to take their chances, so let me take my chances as well," he said.
LSG skipper Rishabh Pant heaved a sigh of relief after his team bounced back from an opening defeat, crediting the focus on "controllables" for their win.
"Big relief, but as a team, we talk about the process. It's not about getting too high when you win and not about getting too low when you lose," Pant said.
"As a team, we can't focus on uncontrollables. My mentor said focus on controllables, and that is what I did," he added, referring to former India and Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni.
Nicholas Pooran’s scintillating 70 off 26 balls powered LSG to chase down the target in just 16.1 overs.
"I think we just want to give freedom to him. You’ve got to give someone the charge when he is batting well, and he has batted brilliantly for us," Pant said. "The group is coming up nicely, we haven't played our best so far, but happy to get a win."
Pooran, who smashed six sixes and six fours, credited his natural ability for his explosive innings.
"I don't plan to hit sixes, try my best to get into good positions and try to time the ball. When the match-up is there, you try to execute your skills," he said.
"The wicket was beautiful. Looking at the games before, every time you come to Hyderabad, it's big scores here. It was a good toss to win; if you don't lose wickets in the powerplay, you can go hard.
"I have never worked on my bat speed, just blessed with incredible talent."
SRH skipper Pat Cummins praised the opposition bowlers for executing their plans on a pitch that played differently from their previous match.
"It was a different wicket the other day, but we had to score quickly. They batted really well though. Still a very good wicket, this was the second-best wicket. It gripped a little bit, but it was a nice wicket," he said.
"Every time it's a fresh game, they bowled really well, it was very well planned. It was a pretty good effort to get to 190. You always need one person to bat throughout the innings, like Ishan (Kishan) did the other day, but they bowled really well, never let us off the hook.
"We got eight batters; it's about going out there and making an impact. You see things you could have done better, that could have been the difference. It's a long competition, we will get a chance pretty quickly, so we need to move on."
