Sunrisers Hyderabad assistant coach Simon Helmot said that match practice is key on the eve of its Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) clash against Punjab Kings here on Sunday.
“You prefer to have some good match practice, ideally some competitive matches before you go into a final but again we can’t control that (weather). However, we do have confidence that we have played some pretty good cricket over the home and away fixtures,” Helmot said.
“We’ve done some training, we’ve had lots of time to reflect on the season and looked at the areas that we felt we’ve done very well and where we would like to improve,” he said after the team was greeted at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium with a heavy downpour.
“Our mindset is to play very well in our game tomorrow. We can’t control what happens in tonight’s match, let alone the match after ours, between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. So, all we can do is play to our best, hopefully get a win, and then the rest will look after itself,” Helmot said.
“I think we’ve had enough good outings over the season as a whole. We should get some real confidence with our batting, and that’s the same with the ball and in the field,” he said.
Hemlot said that the team had no concerns regarding balance in the side and who all gets picked. “Players are no doubt vying for positions to be in the eleven or, in fact, one of the impact players, and that’s healthy. But we’ve got such a versatile group, a positive group, brilliantly led by Pat, and well-structured with Dan (head coach Daniel Vettori) at the helm,” Helmot explained.
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On pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar doing well in the last few games after early disappointments and whether he has made any changes, Helmot said that he continued to maintain his training structure.
“He didn’t change his mental approach. I thought he was a little unlucky in some of the earlier matches, and that can happen in T20 cricket. You can bowl the house down and beat the edge, or just miss out on the lbw opportunities, and then later on in the season he picked up wickets,” he defended.
“He’s remained consistent, and it’s those sort of consistent characters that you have in your team that help you when you get to the important stages of a tournament,” the SRH assistant coach said.
“Look, he’s one of the leaders of our attack. He’s so experienced. He’s been in many playoffs before, so we know his experience will be invaluable,” he added.
“I know he’s a person who Pat will often lean on, especially out in the middle when the pressure’s on. But, Bhuvi as well as a number of our senior players are going to be important when it comes to big matches,” Helmot said.
Helmot said there were lots of thoughts on the impact player rule. “What it has done is it certainly forced captains and coaches and teams to think of how to best get the best recipe or get the best out of your squad. So, that’s been interesting. I think it’s been interesting for the fans,” he said when questioned whether given the option he would retain or disband the rule.
“What it’s done to maybe the potential all-rounder position, that’s still a discussion or a debate, which no doubt people who make decisions will think about later on. But, I was sitting on the fence there,” Helmot said.
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