IPL 2021: Willamson needed a little bit of extra time to get match fitness, says SRH coach Bayliss

SunRisers Hyderabad coach Trevor Bayliss on Sunday said that Kane Williamson needs a bit of extra time to get to his match fitness as the New Zealand skipper missed the opening game for the side against Kolkata Knight Riders. SRH suffered a 10-run defeat against KKR here at the MA Chidambaram Stadium after Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi's knocks of 80 and 53 were backed by a spirited bowling performance by the Eoin Morgan-led side.

"We just felt that Kane needed a little bit of extra time to get match fit and a little bit more time in the nets. He would have played in place of Jonny Bairstow obviously if that had occurred. But we aren't too perturbed about that, Jonny has been in form recently in white-ball cricket here in India. Kane will obviously come into calculations as the tournament unfolds," Bayliss said in a virtual press conference after the game. Needing 57 off 24 balls at one stage, SRH promoted Vijay Shankar ahead of big-hitter Abdul Samad.

When asked about sending Shankar before Samad, Bayliss said, "Vijay in our practice matches that we had a few days ago was our best player. He struck the ball beautifully and made 95 in one of the games, hit a lot of the balls long way over the fence. It's always difficult in those situations whenever you go in you have to go pretty much from the first ball you face." "Samad in a short space of time last IPL and this one has shown that he has a lot of talent and is a clean striker of the ball. I think as he gets more experience, he will get more opportunities," he added.

Bayliss further said that the side would continue to reward last season's performers as they helped the team turn their fortunes around and make a late dash into the playoffs. "At the moment what we wanted to do is reward the guys who finished the tournament last year. We got off to a slow start the last tournament but came back well to reach the finals (playoffs). Someone like Saha opening and batting so well in that tournament we felt we should reward the guys who finished it so well for us last year," the coach said.

"Depending on fitness and form, we know Jonny can open the batting and keep as well. It gives us options but yes he has done well for England at number 4 recently," he added.