'He's in the category of Andre Russell': SRH coach Daniel Vettori on his KEY PLAYER

Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach, Daniel Vettori, downplayed the struggles of Royal Challengers Bangalore, emphasizing that it will take an "exceptional" performance from them to defeat the hosts on Monday. Currently, the Royal Challengers languish in 10th place on the IPL table with just two points from one win in six matches.

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"I don't think anyone in any team underestimates the quality of RCB. They're a very good team. So, it's going to take an exceptional performance from us to try and beat them. Every (IPL) game is hard and particularly when you're playing away from home," said Vettori during his pre-match press conference here on Sunday.

Daniel Vettori on Heinrich Klaasen 

Daniel Vettori commended SRH's middle-order batsman Heinrich Klaasen, who has been in impressive form this IPL season. The South African has amassed 186 runs in five matches at an outstanding strike-rate of 193.

"He's been exceptional for a long period of time and he's in that category of the likes of (Andre) Russell where teams really fear him in that backend and they set up their bowling plans to try and negate him.

"But he's been so good for such a long period of time that he has allowed us to either win the games or always be in the game." he added. 

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The ex-left-arm spinner, who has a longstanding connection with RCB as both a player and coach, mentioned that teams often choose to chase at Chinnaswamy Stadium due to the advantage it offers in controlling the latter part of the innings.

"We understand the ball travels here and the boundary sizes are small. So, I think you have to keep challenging yourself to try and take wickets because any team can score that 60-70 at the backend.

"I know no score is safe (here) and I always feel like you're in the game, particularly when you are chasing. Most teams will come here and try to chase because they feel that it's easier to navigate the endings," he explained.