After a poor start, it was a mountain to climb: James Franklin on SRH’s IPL 2025

India Today

IPL 2025, RCB vs SRH: In the pre-match press conference, bowling coach James Franklin said that it was always going to be a tough ask for the Sunrisers Hyderabad to make a comeback after a poor start to their campaign.

Transcript

00:00It's not hard because I think in sport there's always something to play for.

00:05I think we saw in the last game there's opportunities for individuals coming in,

00:10Harsh Dube being one of them.

00:13We obviously saw the return of Nitesh Kumar ready to the bowling crease,

00:17which was great to see.

00:19So those are micro examples of what there is to play for.

00:23And obviously as a team, you want to win as many games as you can in this competition.

00:26Yes, we might be out of the playoff scenarios.

00:29But we've still got two games left and we obviously want to try and win both of them.

00:34So yeah, there's no lack of motivation to come out tomorrow night

00:38and put in a good performance that hopefully delivers a win for us.

00:42Have you won your last game here?

00:45Do you feel confident enough to make it up to your opponents?

00:49Yeah, look, I mean, every game is different.

00:51We had a really good performance the other night here against Lucknow.

00:55Obviously a slight change in the schedule.

00:58We thought this game was going to be in Bangalore, but we're still in luck now.

01:01So yeah, we feel like the last couple of games we've performed pretty well.

01:08So yeah, we just want to grow that through the last couple of games before the IPL is concluded for another year.

01:13And hopefully tomorrow, as I said, we deliver a really good performance, you know, collectively

01:19and obviously individuals within that collective stand-up and hopefully that delivers that win for us.

01:24Have you agreed to have a lot of players here?

01:28Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, as far as I'm aware, he's gone through all the various and necessary COVID protocols.

01:35So yeah, as far as I'm aware, he's declared fit and ready to go for selection for tomorrow's game.

01:44Thank you for questions.

01:45If you can tell us a picture about Vishen Sharma.

01:50I mean, before last season, we hadn't seen this ultra-aggressive version of him.

01:57So if you could tell us if something was told to him, like, was he spoken to, or is there anything

02:06that SRH, within, that changes his mindset or changes that way?

02:10Yeah, I mean, he's probably the best person to ask that question to you.

02:14I can probably only tell you what I've seen and sort of the messages within the group.

02:18And it's always to play the game in a positive manner and play it in a way that, I guess, is free

02:24for someone like Abby.

02:27I'm sure he's done it for Punjab a number of times.

02:30And, obviously, last year was a real revelation for him and, I guess, in partnership with Travis

02:38through last year's IPL.

02:39So, obviously, those expectations were, again, probably there this year and probably reinforced

02:45by selection to India through those great performances.

02:48And, obviously, he's gone on to perform beautifully for India as well in T20 cricket.

02:52So, we've seen it this season.

02:55We've seen him scoring a magnificent 100.

02:57I think it was against Punjab.

02:59We obviously saw the last game, how devastating it is as well.

03:02So, look, I think we all love watching it.

03:05And we hope he, obviously, keeps getting better as he gets older and more experienced

03:11and understanding his game more.

03:13So, yeah, I think the internal messages are around just going out there and playing that

03:19free-spirited game.

03:20Calculate it because he does train unbelievably well and hard.

03:24So, hopefully, yeah, as I said, two more games to leave this IPL on a good note.

03:30And I'm sure he's one of the guys in our playing league that really want to finish this IPL on a good note.

03:39So, the previous man, Moshimi was missing.

03:43Is he available for the next time?

03:47Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

03:48He was involved in our squad, so I think he was one of the impact players that was an option to choose from.

03:54The playing squad hasn't been chosen or the full squad for this game hasn't been chosen yet.

04:00So, I'm sure his name will be spoken about and how that then, I guess, translates to tomorrow's game, whether or not he's involved.

04:15Hello, James.

04:16Hi.

04:17At this point, this is a flag of the tournament, right?

04:21Would you be in a position to pinpoint a couple of things that were, and if and but scenario,

04:27probably could have gone your way?

04:29That would have probably changed your course of where you stand at the moment?

04:33Not off the top of my head.

04:34I think, again, it's been noted throughout that probably the first half of this tournament,

04:40we just weren't putting in collective performances as a team to get across the line,

04:47and some of those losses that we had were quite big losses.

04:53And then, obviously, you know, if you don't start so well, I think we'd won two out of our first seven games.

04:59It's a bit of a mountain to climb in the back end or the second half of the tournament.

05:03But the messaging and, I guess, the way that we've been training, and I think you started to see probably the last couple of games,

05:11we started to get a little bit more consistent with what we're doing on the field,

05:14probably in all three departments of batting, bowling and fielding.

05:18So, whilst we can't change what has happened throughout this IPL,

05:23you know, I think the very first question is about the motivations for these next couple of games,

05:28and it's about individuals and the team trying to really put in some good performances

05:33so that we lead this year with a little bit of momentum and then sweeter tastes in the mouth for coming back next year.

05:40But there's nothing specific to answer your question that I could say in terms of a game or moments in a couple of games.

05:48I think probably more the recognition that the first half of the tournament we just didn't really quite get it right,

05:54and it was always going to be a tough challenge to qualify in the second half, which we haven't ended up doing.

06:00But the performances probably from the last couple of games and what we're wanting to do in these next couple of games,

06:05we're hoping that we leave IPL 2025 on a good note.

06:10I'll take the last question if we don't have any and we'll knock it up.

06:14As a bowling coach, I mean, before the suspension of the league, I think SRH, I mean, I looked at the stats,

06:23and they had, I mean, in all three cases, the economy rate was in, so, like, I mean, I think,

06:30second based on the last, when it comes to the network, when it came to the network,

06:35before the suspension of the league, so what do you think the voters would have done with the co-authors?

06:43Yeah, I think our venue at times can extrapolate some numbers and blow them out a little bit.

06:51And maybe as a group, we didn't recognise that quick enough and, I guess, adapt to that.

07:02There's a lot of conversations going on in the background, individually and collectively, as a bowling group.

07:07There's obviously a lot of implementation in terms of trainings and preparation,

07:11and then ultimately, decision-making and execution comes down to the players when they go out there in the game.

07:20We've got some really fantastic pace bowlers who've got a lot of experience

07:27and have all had some really good moments throughout this tournament.

07:31So, again, probably reflecting on that first half of the tournament, we didn't quite get it right,

07:37and that's probably, you know, in all three areas of the game.

07:41And I think you've seen some improvement over the last couple of games,

07:45and, you know, you alluded to the break.

07:48We're just hoping that we can finish on a good note, put more into practice of what we're talking about

07:55and the preparation and, I guess, the tactical side of it.

08:00So then, you know, if you put that all together and mesh that all together on a positive way,

08:04you're always going to be challenging for wins, which we've shown the last couple of games.

08:08We want to show these things the next couple of games.

08:11And, yeah, guys are continuing to try and put their best foot forward out there for SRH for tomorrow's game

08:20and our last game in Delhi on Sunday.

Category

Transcript

Recommended