Lucky to have local talent, says Hyderabad skipper Williamson

After defending a meagre score of 132 against Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson praised his bowlers, saying the team is lucky to have local talent.

Spin twins Rashid Khan and Shakib Al Hasan shared five wickets to help Hyderabad beat Punjab by 13 runs in a nail-biting Indian Premier League (IPL) match.

"The bowlers have been operating very well, they know their roles very well. We are fortunate with our bowling depth. Very lucky to have the local talent," Williamson said after the match.

"Some good tough decisions to make going into the next few matches. You always want more, but the boys have been fantastic in the way they fought with the ball especially on this kind of a pitch. We want to maintain the same trend for the rest of the tournament," he added.

Williamson also advised his batsmen to be a little more smarter.

"It's nice to be able to defend these totals. We didn't bowl well in the powerplay, but we did well to squeeze it towards the end. We want to be a little bit smarter with the bat. It's about getting 145s and 155s on these kind of surfaces. Competitive totals on these kind of surfaces," he said.

Demoted to No.3, Kings XI Punjab squandered a watchful 55-run opening start from Chris Gayle and Lokesh Rahul before falling apart, as Rashid (3/19) and Shakib (2/18) triggered a batting collapse to help their team win the match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Thursday.

--IANS

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