How Henriques got the better of Bailey

Dismissing George Bailey has not been an easy task for bowlers this IPL season, but Moises Henriques has revealed his strategy – or lack thereof – that proved successful against the in-form batsman on Monday.

Hyderabad’s decision to play Henriques ahead of Dale Steyn paid off, as the Sydney Sixers all-rounder picked up the wicket of Punjab skipper Bailey and helped the Sunrisers to a 20-run win.

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Henriques said he had concentrated on getting the basics right rather than strategising to get Bailey out, catching the batsman by surprise with a change in length.

“The first two balls that I bowled to him were sort of back-of-length and because I had all my fielders there (in the same place) I thought he would be expecting that again,” Henriques told iplt20.com.

“So I just tried to get a little bit fuller - I probably over pitched it a little bit, but luckily for me he mistimed it and got caught at mid-off.”

In only his second game of the season, Henriques also chipped in with a 32-ball 30 in his partnership of 45 runs with Naman Ojha.

Image Id: ~/media/F0F1194B32E7434C8451C762A4BEFF5FMoises Henriques bats for Hyderabad // BCCI

The Sixers all-rounder said the Mohali pitch was a ‘strange’ one which did not assist either the batsmen or bowlers.

“It was a strange wicket. It wasn’t doing anything sideways and unless you were really trying to hit big, it wasn’t actually too bad,” he said.

“It was a tough kind of wicket to get under the ball and to accelerate because it was quite low and slow, but there weren’t any tricks in the wicket or anything like that. If you bowled badly you got hit, but they bowled well and we bowled equally well too.”

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When quizzed about the role an allrounder plays in the Twenty20 format, Henriques said it was not always possible to perform with both bat and ball.

He said it was vital to keep the roles separate and ensure a failure in one did not affect the other.

“I know that you are not always going to be able to go out there and score runs and take wickets,” he said.

“So to make sure whatever you do first (do it well). If that doesn’t go well, (you have) to make sure you make up for it in the second innings and not let it bother you too much because you’ve still got a job to do with either the bat or the ball.,

“I think one of the main things you do is to stay level headed and no matter what happens you have a job to do. And to not worry too much about what’s gone in the past and focus more on what’s coming up in the future.”