"Don't think anyone underestimates quality of RCB....": SRH coach Vettori ahead of Bengaluru clash

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 14 (ANI): Ahead of his side's Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Daniel Vettori is in no mood to take the struggling franchise lightly, saying that games away from home are tough and RCB will be playing aggressive after learning from their previous losses.

Pat Cummins-led SRH will take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the latter's home venue of M Chinaswammy Stadium. While SRH is in the fifth spot with three wins and two losses, RCB is desperately searching for wins and is at the bottom with a win and five losses.

Speaking ahead of the game, Vettori said that no team underestimates the quality of RCB and they would be learning a lot of lessons from their previous losses. He acknowledged that his bowling attack is going to feel the pressure of facing a dangerous line-up consisting of Faf Du Plessis, Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, and Dinesh Karthik among others and Men in Orange will have to be exceptional on the field.

"I do not think anyone in any team underestimates the quality of RCB," said Vettori.

"They are a very good team. So, it is going to take an exceptional performance from us to try and beat them. Every (IPL) game is hard and particularly when you are playing away from home."

"RCB will obviously keep learning from what is happened in the previous games and they are going to come out pretty aggressive. We are going to be under a lot of pressure as a bowling unit for how aggressive they are going to be. So, we need to find ways to counter that and then keep up with our batting form which has been really good," concluded Vettori.

Vettori, who was associated with RCB before as a player and coach in the past said that the surface at Chinaswammy Stadium has been slightly slower. He also noted that teams like chasing at this venue since they find it easy to structure the innings.

"I think most teams come here thinking that it's going to be a high-scoring fixture. I have probably seen a couple of surfaces this year that have been slightly slower," he said.

"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 are 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.

Vettori also lauded Heinrich Klaasen, who has scored 186 runs in five matches at an average of 62.00 with a strike rate of over 193 and two fifties. The New Zealand great said that he has been exceptional for the team and is comparable to Kolkata Knight Riders' finisher and all-rounder Andre Russell for the terror he creates in the minds of bowlers.

"He has been exceptional for a long period of time and he is 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," said Vettori.

"But he has 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.

Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, T Natarajan, Umran Malik, Washington Sundar, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tripathi, Glenn Phillips, Anmolpreet Singh, Upendra Yadav, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Sanvir Singh, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Marco Jansen, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal

Royal Challengers Bengaluru Squad: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Reece Topley, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Saurav Chauhan, Suyash Prabhudessai, Swapnil Singh, Rajan Kumar, Karn Sharma, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Mayank Dagar, Alzarri Joseph, Cameron Green, Anuj Rawat, Manoj Bhandage, Yash Dayal, Himanshu Sharma. (ANI)