IPL 2020: David Warner backs his decision to bat first despite loss against Kolkata

Hyderabad skipper David Warner went on to say that his decision was spot on despite being at the receiving end against Kolkata at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Warner won the toss and quickly decided to have a bat. However, the 'Orange Army' was restricted to 142/2 in their 20 overs which was easily chased down by the two-time winners with a couple of overs to spare and by 7 wickets.

By the virtue of this loss, the 2016 champions have ended up losing their first two games of the Dream11 IPL 2020. They had lost their season opener against southern rivals Bangalore on Monday night.

'Got my decision right': David Warner

"I think I got my decision right. For us, our strength is death bowling. I thought it was actually a difficult wicket to accelerate on. The Kolkata boys showed us that if you can keep wickets at the end, that's what wins you games. I don't regret what I did at the beginning of the game and I stick by my decision. Patty Cummins, as he does, Test-match line and length. There was a little bit of movement here and there. All in all, it got harder through the middle. We went four or five overs for 20 and coming back with three wickets in hand at the end probably killed us a little bit there. An extra 30 or 40 runs would have been great. We have to try and go harder at the top. Can't help if the bowlers are bowling good lines and lengths. We need to push as hard as we can. You can see from our running between the wickets, we do do that. But, we got to improve our boundary percentage. I saw, I think 35 dot balls, which not acceptable in T20 cricket on a wicket that was actually nice to bat on. We just mis-executed in the middle", said Warner during the post-match interview.

His opposite number Dinesh Karthik heaped praise on Kolkata's bowlers for having restricted Hyderabad to a manageable total. At the same time, DK also hailed youngster Shubman Gill for his match-winning knock.

"Always good to get on board. We have been working really hard. I think one of the advantages of having all-rounders and it is a privilege to use them whenever I can. The fact that we have been able to groom youngsters is pleasing. It has been an emotional journey for us with Nagarkoti for the last couple of years. But credit to the management to have stuck to him. It feels good to see the youngsters doing well. I want Gill to enjoy his journey in cricket. One duck doesn't make you a bad player. I need to probably up my game and get a few runs", he said.

Shubman Gill, who was adjudged Man of the Match for his stellar half-century revealed how important this win was for Kolkata.

"I think the ball wasn't spinning much and was easy to hit down the ground. I have practised power hitting in the last couple of years. I think it was important for us to win. We bowled really and we had to back it up with a good performance. There weren't any long conversations with Morgan. We were just trying to anticipate what the bowlers can try and do. As an opener it is my duty to see my team through", said Gill.

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