Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 29 (ANI): Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) head coach Daniel Vettori heaped praise on young spinner Harsh Dubey, calling him a 'real asset' for the franchise this season, even as the team endured a tough start to their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday.

Dubey, a left-arm spinner, impressed with his composure on a challenging surface and picked up a key wicket, dismissing Devdutt Padikkal after the batter's quickfire 61 off 26 balls had put SRH under severe pressure.

'For this last year or so, he's been incredible in red- and white-ball cricket,' Vettori said, as per ESPNcricinfo. 'We were fortunate that we picked him up [at] the back end of last year because he probably could have been one of the big buys of the auction this season, but he is a clever bowler, and bowling spin here is not easy.'

'It's a small ground, and the surface is pretty challenging, and even for the likes of Krunal [Pandya], who is such an experienced campaigner. So to see him come in today, understand what he needs to do, take an important wicket [of Padikkal for 61 off 26]... There will be a couple of things that he wants to improve on, but I think he's going to be a real asset for us this season.'

Despite the defeat, Vettori also took positives from SRH's batting effort, which recovered strongly after losing three early wickets in the power play. A crucial 97-run partnership between Ishan Kishan and Heinrich Klaasen steadied the innings before a late flourish from Aniket Verma lifted the total to a competitive 201.

'We've got a lot of trust in our batting unit. You see Aniket coming in at seven and being still able to be aggressive and put us in a position where we had a chance of a defendable total,' Vettori said.

'We don't expect Abhi and Trav to do it every game - we expect them to win a couple of games a season, and we hand that off to all of the batting unit. So that top seven is incredibly impressive, and even after that tough start to get to 200 shows the calibre of that group.

'So I think they've just got the confidence that they can go out there and play that style, and they understand that we need big scores because of the nature of the IPL these days, that big scores are dominant and they're really important.'

Now, the SRH will lock horns with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday at Eden Gardens. (ANI)