SPORTS

'Kolkata is a strong team, we have to play our best to win'

April 15, 2016 21:17 IST

IMAGE: Kolkata Knight Riders players celebrate a wicket. Photograph: PTI.

Seeking to shrug off the defeat in their IPL campaign opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sunrisers Hyderabad would look to put their best foot forward in their match against Kolkata Knight Riders, coach Tom Moody said.

"Even though, we lost the first game, we are going to this with lots of confidence. (There are) lots of things we can take away from that game in Bangalore. It gave us lot of confidence with the bat and ball," Moody said at the pre-match press conference at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. 

The Sunrisers lost by 45 runs to RCB in Bengaluru earlier this week. Noting that KKR are a strong side, Moody said the Sunrisers would like to come up with a competitive performance. 

"KKR are a strong team. They have shown it over time. So, it is going to be a tough contest. I think every side in the competition is pretty well balanced. There is no so called easy game. We certainly have to play our best cricket to score winning points tomorrow," he said.

IMAGE: Sunrisers Hyderabad coach Tom Moody (second right) with his players and staff. Photograph: PTI.

Though Sunrisers' seasoned bowler Ashish Nehra is injured, the team has back up replacement options in Barinder Sran and Abhimanyu Mithun, he said. 

"Obviously, with Ashish Nehra injured, a bowler of that quality, it is going to have an impact on any side. We are conscious to make sure we have strong support behind our bowling. With Sran and Mithun we got capable and talented backup pace bowlers. So we are confident we have potential replacement," Moody said. 

The team does posses "depth and quality" in batting, though the experienced Yuvraj Singh is injured for now, said the Australian.

Observing that the Sunrisers batting mainstay Shikhar Dhawan was a hard working player, Moody said it's only a matter of time before he comes up with an impressive performance.

NEXT ARTICLE

NewsBusinessMoviesSportsCricketGet AheadDiscussionLabsMyPageVideosCompany Email