‘We weren’t at our best with the ball’: SRH head coach Vettori after IPL opener defeat. (NOT a photo) NEW DELHI: Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori did not mince words after his side’s IPL 2026 opening defeat, terming their bowling effort as “one of our weaker performances” after their six-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Despite a competitive 201/9 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, SRH were left chasing shadows as RCB stormed home in just 15.4 overs, powered by Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal.
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IPL 2026: Shubman Gill hits back at critics – ‘I don’t need to prove my worth’ Vettori admitted that the game slipped away after the early breakthrough and SRH failed to maintain control. “You have to start well, which we did against (Phil) Salto, but we weren’t at our best with the ball. We weren’t as disciplined as we needed to be,” he said.The former New Zealand captain highlighted how the bowlers allowed too many scoring chances. “We gave a lot of scoring opportunities to Virat and Padikkal who played exceptionally well,” he added.Even after the early removal of Phil Salt, SRH failed to build pressure. “We should have been able to maintain a bit more discipline after that goal,” Vettori noted, stressing that the length inconsistency proved costly.Wasted lengths, wasted opportunityVettori pointed to execution as the key difference, especially after observing how effectively RCB bowled. “We learned a lot from the way RCB bowled… but we weren’t able to implement it,” he said.He chose debutant Jacob Duffy to set the benchmark. “Duffy in particular has shown the length to bowl on this surface,” Vettori said, comparing it to SRH’s inability to hit the right areas consistently.“We lacked our lengths too much. It was one of our tough bowling shows today,” he admitted, adding that SRH found their rhythm towards the end.200 is no longer enough in ChinnaswamyVettori also acknowledged that 200 was no longer a safe total on batting-friendly surfaces. “Maybe a few years ago you would have thought 200 was safe, but we understand where the game has gone and how destructive this RCB batting line-up is,” he said.While the bowling was under scrutiny, Vettori bolstered his batting unit, highlighting the contributions of the likes of Aniket Verma and the depth in the top order.With young bowlers like David Payne and Harsh Dubey still finding their feet, SRH will look to regroup quickly.
