AHMEDABAD: Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori accepted that a "formidable" Gujarat Titans completely outplayed them with their "brilliant" bowling performance in an IPL match here
After half-centuries from Sai Sudharsan (61) and Washington Sundar (50) pushed GT to 168 for 5, pace duo of Mohammed Siraj (1/11) and Kagiso Rabada (3/28) wreaked havoc in the powerplay before Jason Holder (3/20) and Prasidh Krishna (2/23) joined the party to bundle out SRH for 86 on a seaming surface on Tuesday night.
The 82-run loss was SRH's biggest IPL loss in terms of runs.
"Really good performance by GT, they put us under a lot of pressure with the ball and then the opening pair set it up so well. We were satisfied at the halfway mark, we knew we are coming up against their bowling line up. Five seamers plus Rashid (Khan) is always going to be challenging," Vettori said at the post match press conference.
"We didn't get the start we wanted and they were able to capitalise and their bowling was brilliant.
"They (GT) are a formidable team and they definitely have their own style and they can adapt to when they need to. They played the conditions exceptionally well. They are well suited in these conditions. Mainly for us it was coming against their bowling line-up and they were very impressive tonight," he added.
The former New Zealand left-arm spinner said they didn't get the start they wanted while chasing the target on seam-friendly conditions.
"169 we thought we had a chance but I don't put any blame on the batting unit, they have been exceptional this year. Every team is the IPL are going to have small blips once in a while and ours's was tonight and I don't see any reason why we can't bounce back."
He praised his bowling unit but said GT pacers were completely brilliant.
"We don't expect our bowling unit to be perfect. It is difficult bowling in the IPL in these conditions. To restrict them to 170 was a very good job.
GT left-arm spinner Sai Kishore praised Rabada and Siraj for their lethal display in the powerplay.
"Siraj and Rabada have been hitting their lengths very well and that's the advantage of having proper Test match bowlers in your line-up. We have been ably led by Shubman Gill and Ashish Nehra," he said.
He was also effusive in his praise for the batting unit.
"We felt the wicket was little damp, it was seaming a lot, so the talk in the dressing room was that 170 was a par score. It's a very good score if we bowl well in the powerplay. To get to 170 Nishant Sindhu batted with intent in the middle overs, Sai Sudharsan played very well, Washy finished it well."