Tom Moody, Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach, was delighted with his team's performance against Rajasthan Royals Friday night, and made special mention of Biplab Samantray and Hanuma Vihari.
"I am very pleased. It was [an] extremely important game for us and after [the] early setback the team showed character as a playing group," Moody said. "And more importantly, the two inexperienced and young cricketers [Samantray and Vihari] took us to a position where we could compete in the second half of the game."
Moody was also all praise for James Faulkner, who took 5 for 16 in his four overs, his second five-for of the season. "His bowling is exceptional. The great thing is his ability to move the new ball around. He also has the ability to bowl very good slow balls, and yorkers on command. When you have [these] three ingredients, it makes you [a] pretty useful bowler at any stage of the game."
Rahul Dravid, captain of Rajasthan Royals, has faced a tough last few days in the wake of the spot-fixing allegations that have surrounded his team. However, he chose not to use the ongoing drama as an excuse for Royals' poor showing against Sunrisers. "We bowled well to restrict them to 136 but were probably a spinner light on the day," Dravid said. "And while we were batting, Amit Mishra was fantastic for them, but we got bogged down in the middle overs."
Dravid hoped to play on less sluggish pitches in the playoffs. "In the playoffs we will be a lot better hopefully. We also hope for better wickets in the playoffs as we have struggled on slow, low ones."