After the thrilling Eliminator, the action shifted to the second Qualifier, scheduled between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Delhi Capitals (DC) at Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Fans were treated to some nail-biting, edge-of-the-seat entertainment as the match went down to the wire.
Finally, it was the DCs who managed to hold on to their nerves and entered into their first final in IPL cricket. They beat favourites SRH by a margin of 17 runs and will contest Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL final on Tuesday.
The almost-perfect game for DC started off with captain Shreyas Iyer winning the toss and electing to field first. Ricky Ponting’s men shredded off all the rust accumulated in the last five matches with a brilliant opening partnership.
Shikhar Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis (38 off 27) added 86 runs for the first wicket within 9 overs, to dominate from the outset.
Dhawan top-scored for DC with his fluent knock of 78 runs, which came off just 50 deliveries. The finishing impetus was provided by Shimron Hetmyer who remained unbeaten on 42, which came off just 22 deliveries. DC posted a challenging total of 189/3 in 20 overs in front of Sunrisers on the big-night.
Defending 190, Kagiso Rabada (4/26) removed SRH captain David Warner (2) out of the equation early. Stoinis then turned the tide towards DC with his game-changing spell of 3/26. He first dismissed a dangerous-looking Priyam Garg (17) and then his partner Manish Pandey (21) in the same over.
SRH had the uphill task of a monumental chase, with the score reading at 44/3 in the fifth over and their heroes from the previous match, Kane Williamson and Jason Holder (11) in the middle.
The Kiwi batting maestro took the game deep with his sensational knock of 67 off just 45 deliveries. It was that man, Stoinis again, who came back and picked the prized wicket of Williamson.
Abdul Samad (33 off 16) threatened to pull off a miracle in the end, but it was Rabada who enjoyed the spoils and clinched the Purple Cap back from Jasprit Bumrah.
Brief Scores –
Delhi Capitals – 189/3 in 20 overs (Dhawan 78, Hetmyer 42*) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad – 172/8 in 20 overs (Williamson 67, Rabada 4/26) by 17 runs.
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