IPL 2023 | We came up against Virat at his best but can't explain six home defeats, says SRH coach Brian Lara

Riding on Virat Kohli’s 63-ball-100 and his 172-run opening stand with skipper Faf du Plessis (71), RCB defeated SRH by eight wickets

Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Brian Lara admitted that his team came up against a "Virat Kohli at his best" but found it hard to explain why they lost six out of the seven home games, which dashed their IPL play-offs chances.

Already out of tournament, Sunrisers Hyderabad did post a decent total of 186, riding on Heinrich Klaasen's brilliant hundred.

But Klaasen's effort was overshadowed by former India skipper's 63-ball-100 and his 172-run opening stand with skipper Faf du Plessis (71) as RCB won by eight wickets with four balls to spare.

".. Our guys played brilliant cricket but we came up against Virat Kohli at his best, and Faf, who has done a tremendous job for RCB throughout the season. He (Faf) is current Orange Cap holder right? So we came up against two world class players and overall I felt was a good effort from the boys," Lara said after his team's ninth defeat in 13 games as they languish at the bottom of 10-team table.

The legendary southpaw couldn't put a finger on why SRH lost six home games which became their undoing.

"It's hard to sit here and explain in a broad sense why but just that we are going to get better, but this sort of record -- one win in seven (home games) is something you don't expect but it has happened," Lara said.

"It was a good learning experience. The spectators have been tremendous but may be we can start preparing from now, and pay them back for support they have us this year," he added.