"The Initial Plan Was...": SRH Coach Daniel Vettori After Win vs CSK

Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Daniel Vettori said that working around their batting line-up and getting the match-ups right with Kamindu Mendis in the mix served the team well against Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League match. SRH ended their winless streak against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk when they defeated the hosts by five wickets at Chepauk on Friday, scoring 155 for five in 18.4 overs after CSK were bowled out for 154. Vettori admitted SRH have not done well on slow and tricky surfaces so far in this IPL which saw them lose to Mumbai Indians in an away game and two matches at home in Uppal.

"No, we haven't (done well on those pitches)," Vettori told the media after the match.

"We've encountered them away and we've encountered them at home, so it hasn't quite matched up with our expectations around the surfaces. But the onus is on us to adapt and understand what's required," he said.

Vettori said moving around their players was crucial for SRH against CSK as Mendis played a vital role both with the bat and the ball.

"That's why the likes of Kamindu came into the team. That's why there was the shuffle in the batting order, putting (Heinrich) Klaasen up, Nitish (Kumar Reddy) down, to give us a more balanced approach to a chase in particular," he said.

"The initial plan was around left-right-hand combinations, and that's in a way to counter Noor (Ahmad) and Jaddu (Ravindra Jadeja) and how good they are through those middle stages." "A lot of the logic was picking him (Mendis) for this ground. We knew what sort of surface we'd come up against and to have a batsman who can play all types of spin, be aggressive, and hit a multitude of shots, that was the starting point," he added.

Meanwhile, the former New