'We believed it was a winning total and it looked like it for a long time, they started well and had all the momentum, they had some quality players, as expected on this wicket we squeezed them back and got ourselves ahead, we weren't very clinical with the catching or in our bowling, we weren't great today'
Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson felt that the total of 162 against Delhi Capitals in the IPL Eliminator was competitive but his team failed to nail it as the players were not "very clinical with the catching or in our bowling".
Sunrisers Hyderabad slumped to heart-wrenching two-wicket defeat against Delhi Capitals to crash out the IPL in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday night.
"It was one of those surfaces that produces such close matches. I believed we had a competitive total after the first half. I knew it would be a tricky chase after the Powerplay overs as with such totals there are small margins.
"We have been in a position of strength before and haven't nailed it, today was another such day and that's a little bit frustrating," said Williamson after the match.
Chasing 163, Prithvi Shaw gave Delhi Capitals an ideal start with a 38-ball 56 before they lost their way in the middle. It was Rishabh Pant (49 off 21 balls with five sixes) who brought Delhi to cusp of victory, even as West Indies' Keemo Paul finished it off the penultimate ball of the innings with a boundary.
"Delhi played very well, they are a strong outfit and I think they deserved this win.
"We believed it was a winning total and it looked like it for a long time, they started well and had all the momentum, they had some quality players, as expected on this wicket we squeezed them back and got ourselves ahead, we weren't very clinical with the catching or in our bowling, we weren't great today. It wasn't our best performance, a few things needed to be changed and it could have been a winning total," said a disappointed Williamson.
"We are building well as a franchise and the development process will have to continue," Williamson said.
