Sunrisers Hyderabad head coach Daniel Vettori put his weight behind his batting unit despite a top-order implosion that saw them fold for 86, suffering a record loss to Gujarat Titans in the IPL on Tuesday (May 12).

Vettori described it as a rare blip for a batting order otherwise relying on and excelling with a hyper-attacking approach, saying that the team was "under no illusions around the way that they've been playing and on the surface".

"We knew we needed to get off to a good start and that's what we weren't able to do," Vettori said. "But I mean if they'd scored 200 then we knew it would have been incredibly difficult. But I think the fact that it was 169 we thought we had a chance.

"But as always, you have to start well and we didn't tonight and that's what happens. And I don't put any blame on the batting unit. They've been exceptional this year. Every team throughout the IPL is going to have their small blips once in a while and ours was tonight".

The Titans managed to defend 168, the second-lowest total successfully defended this season, handing SRH their biggest defeat by runs in the IPL. Unlike several other games, the match wasn't a Powerplay batting duel, with 68 runs being the joint-lowest aggregate this season for overs 1 to 6.

GT's Sai Kishore said that 170 felt like par score on a pitch that was a little damp and seaming a lot, saying the way the team batted made the surface "look much better than what it was".

He lauded Sai Sudharsan for playing a "wonderful innings" even if "he was not striking at a higher rate on this wicket", while Nishant Sindhu complemented him by showing intent in the middle overs.

However, the win was largely set up by how the Titans' seamers bowled in the Powerplay, extending the team's bowling brilliance this season. Statistically, Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj have been the most successful new-ball pair this year, taking 21 wickets in the Powerplay when bowling together unchanged.

"Overall, this season, Sriraj and Rabada have been hitting their lengths very well," Kishore said. "That is the advantage of having proper Test-match bowlers in your line-up, I guess.

"And we have been ably led by Shubman Gill and Ashish Nehra in terms of the bowling philosophies, in terms of what lengths to bowl in the powerplay. And on such a wicket, not depending on the slower balls or yorker a lot, trusting that hard length, trusting that good length in this wicket. Bowling proper Test-match bowling: I think that has made a huge difference in the season for us".

However, Kishore insisted that even on placid pitches where they're up against ultra-attacking batting, the GT bowlers have enough adaptability to alter their strategy.

"Rabada, Prasidh, Siraj, Holder: all these guys are very good with their yorkers and slower ones as well. But on such a wicket where there is a lot of purchase, you have to be brave and bowl those hard lengths," he said.

"That has been the philosophy. But if the wicket doesn't have a lot of purchase, if it's a very placid wicket, I think we will be smart enough to bowl those yorkers, bowl those slow ones, slow bumpers and get out of the over well. I think we are equipped with it. Just that we have played a lot of games in wickets like this, this season. So, we have stuck to Test match bowling".