Sunrisers Hyderabad were exposed to tough conditions at Eden Gardens: Tom Moody

Tom Moody

Kolkata, May 5 (IANS) Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Tom Moody believes that after losing a few quick wickets, his side's middle order was exposed to very hostile conditions at the Eden Gardens, where defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat them by 35 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter here on Monday.

"We lost a couple of early wickets and then we got exposed in conditions that were very challenging. We always knew coming here it would be a tough match," Moody said at the post-match media conference.

"KKR have a firm grip on their home conditions, a team that is well balanced and suited to bowling in this turning and slow conditions. Only taking them out of this environment you can have an evenly matched contest."

Moody regretted his side's sluggish fielding and bowling effort that eventually led to the home side getting to 167/7.

"It wasn't our best bowling or fielding performance tonight and I believe KKR ended up with 15-20 runs more... the first time our bowling unit did not fare as well as they have throughout the tournament," he said.

Asked if SRH are heavily reliant on their two opening batsman - skipper David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, Moody said: "Every team in the tournament is dependent on their opening partnership. (Gautam) Gambhir and (Robin) Uthappa are an important part of KKR's batting unit just as Warner and Shikhar Dhawan are important for us."

However, the coach found positives out of the sub-standard show put up by his team, saying the team is starting to build something in the middle order.

The former Australian all-rounder also praised Moises Henriques who top-scored with 41 off 33 balls after his 9-ball 19 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday.

"(There were) couple of positives like how Moises Henriques continued to bat today. We are starting to build something in the middle. It was only two days ago we beat the Chennai Super Kings, won't read too much into this game," he said.

"It is disappointing to lose, but we recognise it was a difficult game. Our last five games are in different conditions far and close to what we have experienced today," Moody said, taking a dig at the spinning conditions at the ground where the spinners gave away just 65 runs in 12 overs taking four wickets.

Reflecting on his bowlers not sending down the yorkers, Moody blamed inconsistency in line and length that helped the opposition put up a fighting total on the scoreboard.

"We bowled too inconsistently, our line and lengths were inconsistent, something we have done well exceptionally well in the tournament.

"But today our defensive bowling was off, did not hit the yorker as normally we would. More importantly, we did not decide to bowl the yorker as often as we would have liked," concluded the 49-year-old.