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SRH keen to finish league phase in top two: Moody

Thu 19 May 2016, 12:00 am

SRH keen to finish league phase in top two: Moody
Summary

SRH will field best XI against Daredevils, says coach

Having secured 16 points from 12 matches, Sunrisers Hyderabad are comfortably placed in the top half of the points table. The David Warner-led team has been one of the most consistent sides in the tournament in their hunt for their maiden IPL title. However, the VIVO IPL 2016 points table is quite volatile and SRH will be fighting the Delhi Daredevils in Raipur on Friday, May 20, in an effort to strengthen their position. Speaking to the media after practice under the scorching sun, the SRH coach Tom Moody said, “We're playing our best team tomorrow. It's important that we continue our momentum. At the end of the day we've still got some unfinished business. The table's getting very competitive and we would like to finish off by winning our last couple of games and have ourselves in the top two teams,” when asked if they would be giving an opportunity to some of their other players in the match against DD ahead of the playoffs, seeing that they are comfortably placed in the points table. While they look to field their best eleven and not experiment with the line-up, the Orange army will be without their experienced campaigner, Ashish Nehra, who has been ruled out of the rest of the season because of an injury. Speaking about the options that they will be looking at as a replacement for the left-hand pacer, the SRH coach said, “We've got a number of options, if we go like for like we can go with Barinder Sran, another left-armer. Or we can look at playing a spinner. We have got a lot of options. We’ll figure that out tomorrow.” While SRH look to consolidate their position the forthcoming game is a must win for their opponents – Delhi Daredevils - to stay in the race for the playoffs. Assessing the Zaheer Khan-led team, who come into the match on the back of a loss to Rising Pune Supergiants, he said, “We appreciate that DD is a very good side. They beat us in Hyderabad and we know they are very competitive with some very dangerous players amongst them. So we expect them to come out all guns blazing regardless whether this is a do-or-die match. They are a good side and we need to be playing our best to secure the two points.” Discussing the conditions after having practiced at the venue for two days, Moody said, “We played here last year and this is a beautiful cricket ground. I had a look at the wicket. The wicket looks to be a good cricketing surface, so I’d expect there to be some decent scores put on the board. It’s a big ground as well so there’s a certain way both teams will need to adapt and play. But, as I said, we have had experience here before and we are going into tomorrow with a lot of confidence.” “We know there will be support for DD, but I am sure they will support some good cricket, which we are hoping to play,” Moody concluded.