The Sunrisers were scheduled for an evening practice ahead of their tournament opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Then there came a cloud cover, followed by some rain that put a halt to their preparations for the big game. The mood in the camp was light with the players taking up to some foot volley indoors and southpaws Yuvraj Singh &ShikharDhawan having a hit with some tennis balls.
Come Wednesday night, it would be a repeat of the 2016 IPL final with the champions and runners-up locking horns to get the tournament underway. Coach Tom Moody expected it to be a tight contest, though RCB were missing out on two big names a ViratKohli and AB de Villiers. a?T20 cricket is a level playing field regardless of the team suffering with injury blows. We certainly have got huge respect for RCB,a? Moody said.
a?Tomorrow night is going to be a difficult match for us regardless of the fact that we beat them in the final or that they are missing out on key players due to injuries. At the end of the day, you have just 120 balls with bat and ball and it is down to small margins. We have to make sure we get everything right on the night to secure a first up win.a?
Moody was very confident about his sideas composition as well. Though their trump card last season a Mustafizur Rahman is expected to be out of action, Moody was confident the fresh faces in the side are bound to spring up a few surprises this season.A a?We have got new players as well. We have a few things up our sleeve. We are not a predictable side. There is going to be one significant change in our line-up with the absence of Mustafizur Rahman and we are prepared for that. We have strategized accordingly in our selection and auction process.a?
Talking about smart picks during the auction, Moody was particularly excited about the two new additions from the Afghanistan team, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan. They are going to be value additions to the squad according to Moody. a?It has been terrific to have two new players from Afghanistan. They are both very worthy IPL participants. We are thrilled to have them and they are going to add a huge amount of diversity to our squad. Nabi is an extremely talented spinning all-rounder and he is going to give us that variety to the depth of our overseas squad. Rashid is a leg-spinner who has a bit of edge. He is a spinner not a lot of teams come to terms with. We are excited about what he can do potentially. They both create some healthy selection headaches.a?
It is a potent batting line-up with a mix of bowling variety. Bowling has always been Sunrisersa plus point and Moody believed batting would be no different this time around with David Warner leading from the front. Though Warner had a rough Test series against India, Moody backed the opener to come good.
a?David looked like he was finding some good touch in the last Test match in Dharamsala. T20 cricket is a lot different from Test cricket. It will be an opportunity for him to get out there and play some T20 cricket. He is only one shot away from destroying oppositions and any attack that comes his way. He showed that last year in the IPL and he relishes this format of the game. He will be looking forward to tomorrow night.a?
