Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori did not mince words after his side's opening-night defeat to defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to kick off IPL 2026. SRH posted 201 after being 33 for 3, but saw the target chased down in 15.4 overs, courtesy blistering half-centuries from Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli.
"I think we understand where the game's gone and how destructive that RCB batting line-up is," Vettori said. "You have to get a good start, which we did against [Phil] Salt, but then I just think we weren't at our best with the ball, we weren't as disciplined as we needed to be, and we gave a lot of scoring opportunities to Virat and Padikkal, who played exceptionally well.
"I thought the way his [Padikkal's] intent, when he came out, put us right back under pressure, where we should have been able to maintain a little bit more after getting that important wicket of Salt. So it was a very good batting performance by RCB and one of our poorer bowling performances."
Vettori underlined that SRH's bowling effort - in Pat Cummins' absence - wasn't due to a lack of understanding of conditions; it was simply poor execution. By six overs, RCB had razed down 76 runs from their target, for just the loss of Salt. Jaydev Unadkat, Harshal Patel and Eshan Malinga - all part of their group last season - were taken apart.
"I think we learned a lot from how RCB bowled and what was effective and what wasn't, and obviously we discussed that, but we just weren't able to implement that. You don't want to have a rusty performance because of how important every game is in the IPL, particularly how to start.
"But today was one of our challenging bowling displays. We saw at the back end when we started to go back to our usual disciplines that we could actually be effective and take some wickets, but I think we just missed our lengths too much. Duffy, in particular, showed the length to bowl on that surface."
SRH's problems were compounded further by the untimely injury to Brydon Carse, who would have otherwise been a certain starter. The England allrounder was struck on his bowling hand in training two days prior, forcing a late reshuffle.
English left-arm seamer David Payne replaced him, arriving straight off a flight the previous night. There was little time to settle in, let alone prepare. He managed just a few hours of sleep and couldn't even get a handful of overs at a training session before being thrust straight in. His very first over got taken apart for 18.
"We put him in a tough situation tonight to come in, but we just thought with the balance of the team, we needed that bowling," Vettori said. "By the end of the day, his figures were pretty good [he dismissed Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma off consecutive deliveries], and he showed that he can be effective even in these conditions where the wickets are really good.
"I think with Pat coming back later in the tournament, Carse hopefully back soon, and Payne, that gives us some good options."
Vettori: Harsh Dubey 'real asset for us this season'
Vettori also praised young left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey for his maturity, and felt a tough workout here ought to set him up well to tackle challenges over the course of the season.
"For this last year or so, he's been incredible in red- and white-ball cricket," Vettori said. "We were fortunate that we picked him up [at] the back end of last year because he probably could have been one of the big buys of the auction this season, but he is a clever bowler, and bowling spin here is not easy.
"It's a small ground, and the surface is pretty challenging, and even for the likes of Krunal [Pandya], who is such an experienced campaigner. So to see him come in today, understand what he needs to do, take an important wicket [of Padikkal for 61 off 26]... there will be a couple of things that he wants to improve on, but I think he's going to be a real asset for us this season."
There was also praise for SRH's batting, for the manner in which they kept punching despite losing three wickets inside the powerplay. This was largely thanks to a 97-run fourth-wicket stand in just 53 balls between Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen. Then, Aniket Verma, one of their uncapped finds from last season, smashed 43 off 18 from No. 7 to lend finishing touches to their innings.
"We've got a lot of trust in our batting unit. You see Aniket coming in at seven and being still able to be aggressive and put us in a position where we had a chance of a defendable total.
"We don't expect Abhi and Trav to do it every game - we expect them to win a couple of games a season, and we hand that off to all of the batting unit. So that top seven is incredibly impressive, and even after that tough start to get to 200 shows the calibre of that group.
"So I think they've just got the confidence that they can go out there and play that style, and they understand that we need big scores because of the nature of the IPL these days, that big scores are dominant and they're really important."