The all-important clash between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Delhi Capitals (DC) at Dubai on Tuesday proved to be a one-sided affair.
It was the SRH who came out victorious, even in the return fixture against the DC’s by a massive margin of 88 runs. Thereby, they remain in the hunt for the Playoffs by beating the third-placed team in the table in a must-win affair.
DC captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field first and was made to regret his decision by birthday boy David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha.
The two openers ran riot in the DC camp with their effervescent strokeplay. Warner smashed his half-century within the powerplay. He brought his 50 in just 25 deliveries. Also, the southpaw scored 54 runs in the first six overs, which is the most by a batsman in this year’s IPL.
Additionally, SRH put on 77 runs within powerplay, which is, again, the most by any team during the powerplay.
The Australian dynamite went on to smash 66 runs off 34 deliveries at a strike-rate of 194.12. Warner scored eight boundaries and a couple of gigantic maximums in the process. It was a big call for VVS Laxman and Co. to drop hard-hitting Jonny Bairstow and swap the Englishman with Wriddhiman Saha.
The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman, however, did not disappoint the management and continued the onslaught after Warner dismissal.
The Bengal cricketer scored a fluent 87 off 45 deliveries (strike rate: 193) in only his second game of the season. Saha hit 12 fours and two sixes during his enterprise.
Manish Pandey’s 44 off 31balls, helped SRH post a monumental total of 219 on the board. Barring Anrich Nortje (1/37) and Axar Patel (0/36), all bowlers used by Iyer went for over 10 runs an over. Premier pacer Rabada (0/54) went for above 50 runs in his spell.
Chasing 220, DC’s went off to the worst possible start with Shikhar Dhawan giving a simple catch to Warner, the first ball spaced. He scored a golden duck.
After a couple of sweet strikes, Marcus Stoinis (5) soon followed the left-handed in the dugout. Ajinkya Rahane (26 off 19) and Shimron Hetmyer (16 off 13) partnership allowed Capitals to not lose more wickets in the powerplay.
Double strike in the opening over from Rashid Khan reduced DC to 55-4 and broke the back of the run-chase. He later picked the wicket of Axar Patel, to complete dream figures of 3/7 in his four overs. T Natarajan (2/26) and Sandeep Sharma (2/27) chipped in with a couple of wickets each.
DC batsmen kept playing their shots and lost wickets at regular intervals. In the end, they could only manage 131 before getting bundled out. The Iyer-led side has now lost three in a row.
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