Staring at an early exit, India pacer Jaydev Unadkat has opened up on Sunrisers Hyderabad’s faltering Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign, attributing its underwhelming performance to ineffective bowling and changing pitch conditions.

SRH is all but out of the Playoffs race after suffering a 38-run defeat against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on Friday.

“From my experience of playing in the IPL, for a team to do well, there has to be at least three or four guys, in terms of your bowling, who have to contribute in every game. And probably this year I would say that we are lacking that, when two guys are bowling well, the other three are probably not really bowling in tandem,” Unadkat told reporters.

Opting to bowl first, SRH failed to contain the GT top order, which posted a challenging 224 for six. Unadkat managed to pick up three wickets in the final over of the innings.

“Like we look at partnerships in terms of batting, I think it’s the same in bowling as well. Because when you are not bowling well from both the ends, it creates unnecessary pressure on the other guy. And then the plans also change. So, we have to take the blame for not being the best bowling side in the tournament,” he said.

GT vs SRH Highlights

“When you want to win games, you got to be the best. And we haven’t been the best. I can’t say that there is anything that we lack in terms of practising and training and planning. It’s just the execution out there on the field, which can go wrong at times.”

SRH had reached the final last season riding on its ultra-aggressive batting approach. This year too, Pat Cummins and Co. began their campaign with a bang, posting a mammoth 286 for six against Rajasthan Royals. However, they lost momentum thereafter and now lie second from the bottom, with just three wins and seven losses in 10 games.

“Last year, we scored 200-plus in four or five matches, and that gave us a sense that we had set a standard. But that can’t always be the norm. Other teams and batters are planning better now, and bowlers are also adapting and coming up with new strategies,” Unadkat said.

“Last year, swing was enough to make an impact, but this year, it’s about using variations effectively. Also, the pitches are playing a big role. Last year we had a lot of flat pitches, whereas this time we’ve had more difficult ones. That’s why we haven’t been able to carry the same momentum.”

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On Friday, SRH made a promising start to its chase but eventually fell short, managing 186 for six in its 20 overs.

Unadkat blamed sloppy bowling and poor fielding for its loss to GT.

“Look, honestly we felt we could have restricted them to around 200. We didn’t field well and that was a reason — maybe a couple of dropped catches and a couple of misfields were the reason why we gave those extra 20-25 runs.

“When you’re bowling first, you want to restrict or get early wickets. We couldn’t and at the same time we also gave away a few more runs in the PowerPlay… we just couldn’t capitalise in the batting innings as well. They bowled in the right areas, executed their plans better than us.”