Brian Lara Admits Not Getting to grips With Hectic IPL Season

Legendary West Indian Brian Lara has conceded that he was not able to come to "grips" with the rigours and emotions of the tournament in his first year as Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach as the franchise once again made an early exit from the IPL. Defending champions Gujarat Titans became the first team to make the playoffs following heir their 34-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ahmedabad on Monday. The result also knocked out the Lara-coached side who still have two more matches left.

"First of all, it's my first year (as head coach of an IPL side)...," ," Lara said in the post-match media interaction.

Lara indicated understanding the nitty-gritty in his first year of being the chief coach of a T20 side was difficult.

After an unsuccessful 2022 where they finished eighth, SRH parted ways with their most successful coach Tom Moody who had guided them to the playoffs five times and win the IPL 2016.

Formerly a strategic adviser and batting coach, this was the West Indian great's first assignment as a head coach of a T20 team.

"Not getting to grips with the emotions of going through an IPL season, especially when we were back to travelling to different venues and finding out different surfaces," the 54-year-old said.

"Our last year was based on 3-4 venues (due to Covid-19 and bio-bubble environment), so there is a huge difference in that," he added.

"As a coach, an appreciation of how much you have to pay attention to what's going on is a meticulous task to get things right continuously," Lara said, hoping that the players correct their "mistakes" next season and emerge "much better cricketers".

Batting didn't come to party

Lara further said they had a "respectable batting unit" but their batters were not able to come