It’s a “shame” that Sunrisers Hyderabad could not make the IPL final, feels top batsman Kane Williamson but asserted that the side can take pride in its remarkable fightback to make the playoffs after the early struggle in the tournament.

Williamson’s counter-attacking 67 went in vain as Delhi Capitals made it to their maiden IPL final with a 17-run win over Hyderabad in the second Qualifier here on Sunday.

It was Delhi’s second win in last seven games, while the loss snapped SRH’s four-match winning streak.

“Delhi is a very good side. They have been trying to find the rhythm to their play like we were and we managed to for a little period of time. Delhi was able to put it together against us and they played very well,” Williamson said during the post-match press conference.

“Going in the second innings, risks needed to be taken. We did not get off to a good start but we managed to build a few partnerships through the middle period. We still had a bit of opportunity. It’s a real shame not to make the finals but I think, particularly in the last three weeks, the guys can be proud of how they played,” he added.

Sunrisers were inconsistent in the first phase of the tournament and Williamson rued the “close losses”, describing it as a “season of fine lines”.

“We had a number of close losses. Perhaps we were not playing our best, every team is very strong, everybody has beaten everybody, you need to be at the top of your game,” the New Zealand skipper said.

“As a team we were looking for that rhythm to our play, it took a bit of time. It was nice to find it at the crunch time, we would have loved to gone through,” he added.

In the second Qualifier, Sunrisers decided to open with Priyam Garg against Delhi Capitals.

Asked about the decision, Williamson said: “I don’t know the exact thoughts but what I feel is that Priyam has a huge amount of talent and throughout this season, he had a lot of repeated opportunity. Every time you watch him play in the nets, you can see how well he hits the ball. He hit some beautiful shots and he is an exciting player for the future, for sure.”

Chasing 190, SRH were struggling at 44 for three but Williamson kept them in the hunt with two partnerships of 46 and 57 with Jason Holder and Abdul Samad respectively before being dismissed in the 17th over.

“Was just trying to re-establish our partnership, take the game to a stage where we can then change the pressure. For a long period of time, they were on top of us, we were able to do that for a small amount of time.

“Abdul Samad came out and hit the ball beautifully, allowed us to get back in the game although there was quite a bit of work to do.

“It was a really interesting season, a mixture of experience and young players, who had a number of opportunities which will be good for them and also for the team moving forward.” PTI