IPL: Yuvraj praises Hyderabad's all-round performance

Having starred with a whirlwind half-century to help defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening match of this year's Indian Premier League (IPL), veteran star Yuvraj Singh praised his teammates for an all-round performance.

Hyderabad started their title defence in superb style, defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in the opening match of the 2017 edition of the IPL here on Wednesday night.

Yuvraj played a starring role in the win, lighting up the match with some excellent strokeplay as he plundered 62 runs from 27 deliveries.

"We started from where we ended (last season). It was a great performance from all the batsmen throughout the innings. The bowlers then came and did the job for the team," he told IPLT20.com.

"It was an important win for us and we need to take more points at home. If we can get five out of seven wins at home, it will help us to qualify in the last four."

Yuvraj, who made a comeback to the Indian team recently, showed glimpses of his old form, smashing three sixes and seven boundaries against Bangalore.

"When I walked out to bat, I just told (Moises) Henriques that I am going to take a few balls and then go for my shots. But, the first two balls hit the middle of my bat and I told him that I was feeling good and I am going to take my chances.

"I enjoyed my batting tonight. My batting has been up and down over the couple of years, but I am feeling really good at the moment. I just need to continue this good run forward. The comeback into the Indian team has really helped me. I am more free in my mind and I am not worrying anymore about making a comeback. I am just going to play according to the situation and express myself," the 35-year-old said.

"I have been hitting a lot of balls and practicing a lot. I have been spending more hours in the nets batting. Also, Hyderabad has always been a lucky place for me. When I played for the India U-19s, I scored a lot of runs here. I made a comeback when I scored a lot of runs in Hyderabad.

"I have good memories of this ground and with the kind of preparations leading up to the tournament, I feel good about my batting at the moment. Hopefully I will keep doing what I am doing right now," he added.

Yuvraj also praised Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting whose throw from the deep resulted in the run out of Bangalore batsman Kedar Jadhav, which was one of the game-changing moments.

"I don't know about accuracy, but I feel Cutting's throw was the fastest I have seen in a long time. I saw him bowl today, he bowled a yard quicker and with the way he is going, he should be a regular for Australia soon. He was outstanding tonight," Yuvraj said.

--IANS

ajb/bg