Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper David Warner carried mixed emotions after his team's loss in the Qualifier 2 to Delhi Capitals (DC) this Sunday (November 8). While disappointed with the outcome in Abu Dhabi, Warner felt chuffed for SRH to have proved people wrong by reaching the top 4.
The captain also said the back half of the campaign, where his team pulled off consecutive victories in knock-out fixtures, is a great template for his troops to follow in the future.
Read Also: Cricket fraternity reacts as DC beat SRH by 17 runs to secure final berth
"First and foremost, nobody gave us a chance at the start. They spoke about the big three. Mumbai has a great team, Delhi and RCB as well, but I'm proud to be where we are today," said Warner at the post-match presentation after his team's 17-run loss to DC, as quoted by CricketNext.
Warner also pointed out the positives for SRH from this season. "I'm really proud of the boys," he said. "Findings of T Natarajan, he was waiting for this and the IPL he had was outstanding. Rashid, the way he bowled throughout."
"Manish Pandey, how he backed himself at No. 3 through the tournament. From an all-round perspective, I'm happy with the way we played. The back half of the tournament is how we'd like ourselves to play."
The only area of their game where Warner felt his team weren't at their best this year is the fielding department. On the day, SRH dropped DC's in-form batsman Marcus Stoinis before he went on to punish them with a breezy 38 off 27 balls and set-up DC on their way to 189/3.
"We can't win tournaments if we drop catches and miss chances," said Warner. "That's something we need to do better next time. With the ball and bat, there were instances we could have done better but we corrected those in the coming games."
"Missing key players was a blow, we just have to work with what we got. I'm proud to get where we did when nobody gave us a chance."
Barring Sandeep Sharma (1/30) and Rashid Khan (1/26), SRH's bowling unit struggled on the big day and failed to restrict the likes of Stoinis, Shikhar Dhawan (78) and Shimron Hetmyer (42*).
In the second half as well, there was no collective effort. Kane Williamson (67) showed off his class once again and young Abdul Samad (33) used the long handle to raise his team's hopes. But given the rest of the line-up failed, those two were always battling against the tide.
Warner, meanwhile, hoped that the next IPL will be held in India
"The fans... they're so loyal to us. Hyderabad is my family, it's my second home. The franchise owners are unbelievable people, they're great family. These are unprecedented times, hope next year we can go back and play the next IPL in India," he signed off.
