IPL 2021: Manoj Tiwary sends a cryptic message for Shankar & Pandey

Manoj Tiwary, the veteran Bengal cricketer, wasn’t happy with the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) after their loss to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. After restricting Virat Kohli and Co to an under-par 149, SRH were cruising courtesy of David Warner’s 37-ball 54 and an 83-run partnership between Warner and Manish Pandey.

Tiwary seemed to be unhappy with Pandey and Vijay Shankar’s performance. Pandey got 61 against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) but was criticised for not be able to accelerate. In the second game, Pandey’s strike rate went down to 97.44 after his 39-ball 38.

Shankar, on the other hand, failed in both matches. Tiwary, who went unsold in the IPL auction in February, reckons that along with talent, having the apt temperament is of prime importance.

Manoj Tiwary reacts

Free advice to the franchise’s owners:-
Rather than increasing the number of support staffs in the team, start having players who have talent with TEMPERAMENT otherwise most of the times team will end up being second best #SRHvRCB #Overratedplayers #IPL2021

— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj) April 14, 2021

This hurts: David Warner after the defeat

Warner, the SRH skipper, was utterly dejected after the Sunrisers gave away the ascendancy from a position of command. With SRH yet to win an IPL game at the Chepauk, Warner sounded confident of making a turnaround in the upcoming matches.

“Our bowlers were fantastic to restrict them. Maxwell batted well and set the platform. We needed two set batsmen at the end, but we failed to do that. We needed to build a partnership and play proper cricket shots. We played cross-batted shots, and that’s not the way to play here,” Warner said.

“This hurts. We have another three games here and I think the wickets are going to get better. We need minimum damage in the first six overs and play simple cricket. The team batting second should have won all four games. This is exactly what happened last night,” he added.

The Sunrisers are next set to face the Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday, April 17 at the Chepauk itself.