The Plan was to bowl as many dot balls as possible: Khan

New Delhi: Mayank Markande’s four-wicket heroics went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians in a last-over thriller to notch up their second win on the trot in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.

The stars of the day for Hyderabad were opener Shikhar Dhawan and Deepak Hooda who scored 45 and 32, respectively. But the credit must be given to the bowlers who restricted the opposition to just 147 runs a good Uppal wicket.

In the absence of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rashid Khan did really well to put brakes on the Mumbai batting, and the leggie returned with figures of 1/13 in his four overs. That also earned him Man-of-the-Match award.

Speaking after the match Rashid said, “It was a good performance to restrict them to under 150. It was a good bowling effort, all the boys bowled really well. Dot balls are crucial in such a short format. That was the plan to bowl as many dot balls as possible. That was the message from the management to go and enjoy yourself – that’s what I did. I just try my best to bowl in good length areas and mix it up for the batsmen. As he’s in his stance, I can see where he’s trying to hit.”

An aggressive side of Rashid was also at display as he did not mind exchanging a few words with the gigantic Keiron Pollard.

To this he said, “We are always having fun when (we) are there in the centre. Against Pollard I did (that) in the Big Bash (League) as well so… we (would) have some good conversation which makes the game more entertaining.

People would watch it and get fun from that. That was the plan, to go against him very aggressively and try to (get) him to make some mistake and get his wicket because his wicket was very crucial that time. He is a kind of player who can take the game away from you at any stage.”