Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kumar Sangakkara said that he wants his team mates to play to their strength when they take on the Pune Warriors in their opening match of the Indian Premier League here on Friday.
“It is going to be a tough game. Pune Warriors have got a very good team. They have some great players. We are just looking to play to our strengths,” Sangakkara told reporters on the eve of the match here.
“We had good discussions about what we are trying to do. Hopefully, we will execute everything well and the way we have planned, I think we can hold around against any team,” he added.
Sunrisers, who were Deccan Chargers in the last five editions under a different management, had a mixed fortune in the competition so far. They won the competition in South Africa in 2009, while finished fourth in 2010. But in other editions they ended up somewhere at the bottom of the table.
Sangakkara stressed that the amount of effort and execution on the field is more important than any number of plans drawn up for success.
“You know, you always draw up specific plans but the real key is executing them on the field. It does not matter how well you really plan, if you don’t do your job on the field.
Pune Warriors, for their part, might have ended at the bottom up of the table in the last two IPL editions, but current captain Angelo Mathews said, on Thursday, that his side would be making a fresh start and look for a better result this season.
“It is going to be a fresh start. Past is past, we got to look for the future. We have a great team and we will take one step at a time and focus on our games,” Warriors captain Angelo Mathews told reporters.