Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Pat Cummins was all praise for young Nitish Reddy whose all-round show helped their side beat Punjab Kings by two runs in the Indian Premier League in Mullanpur on Tuesday. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
The 20-year-old Reddy made 64 off 37 balls to take SRH to 182 for 9 after they were asked to bat and chipped in with one wicket from his three overs to play a key role in the win.
"He was awesome, top of the order, fantastic in the field, bowled three overs too. To get us to 180 off his bat, it was amazing," Cummins said of Reddy, a batting all-rounder, who was named player of the match.
Cummins said it was a great game of cricket and his side tried to remain positive.
"They bowled really well at the start, we did well to get to 182 and then defended it. The beauty of the impact player is that you feel you have really deep batting. We try to be positive, to take the game on," he said.
"You get 150-160, you are going to lose nine out of ten games anyway. We knew the new ball was going to be a key time. We were pretty happy (with our score)," said the Australia captain.
Asked about his side's plan while defending the total of 182, he said, "Saw what happened with the new ball for them, so thought if me and Bhuvi could start off with a wicket or wickets (it would be good).
"We have plenty of left-armers, right-armers, so just trying to give the bowlers the best chance of success."
Punjab Kings captain Shikhar Dhawan praised Shashank Singh (46 not out) and Ashutosh Sharma (33 not out) for their knocks.
"It is great to see those youngsters coming in and chipping in. There was always the hope that they could finish the game. Hats off to them that they brought it this close.
"I feel that we kept them to a good total. Unfortunately, we could not cash in on the first six overs and that is where we lost the game. That pinched us hard."
On their shot selection and if they would want to change it in hindsight, he said, "The wicket was not offering that much bounce so every individual has to come up with better plans. Because we got out…of course we would want to change our strokes.
"I feel that at the end, we dropped that catch on the last ball. We could have stopped 10-15 runs more and that made a difference as well. As a batting unit, we did not perform. The top order needs to perform.
"We are going to bounce back from this loss. We have to do better in certain areas and improve."
Reddy said he was happy with the contribution he made to the team.
"I have been talking to myself that I have to believe in myself and that I have to be there (for my team).
"The seamers were bowling well, so I did not want to take them on. When the spinners came on, I wanted to attack them and that is what I did. The slower bouncer is really working (through the tournament), so I just wanted to use the dimensions.
"I just want to continue this performance for my team, with the bat, with the ball and in the field. I just want to be like this."
