After restricting Sunrisers Hyderabad to a modest total of 146, Delhi Daredevils chased down the target easily in 18.1 overs with seven wickets in hand to complete a comfortable victory in the 42nd game of the Indian Premier League in Hyderabad. The hosts, however, maintained their position at the top of the points table, with 14 in 11 matches. Dhawan was joined by Kane Williamson in the middle and Duminy, Mishra and Morris did well to keep a check on the run-rate. But from a panoramic glance across the stands, it was hard to gauge how the venue, which is capable of hosting a 33,000-strong gathering, could accommodate any more of the roaring fans who had turned up to watch Hyderabad’s last home game this season on the night.
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It was a rather uncharacteristic start by the Hyderabad openers after being put in to bat by Delhi’s stand-in skipper JP Duminy – regular captain Zaheer Khan was benched owing to a niggle – with the duo scoring just 11 runs in the first three overs, but they upped the ante taking Hyderabad to 51 for 0 in the powerplay overs.
By virtue of this win, the Daredevils have moved up to the third spot in the standings with 12 points from 10 games.
Warner started cautiously, tapping the ball around for the first eight times he took strike, and then switched to his destructive self, hitting six fours and a six on his way to a 30-ball 46.
It was Yadav who broke the dangerous-looking partnership between Dhawan and Warner in the ninth over when he went through the defence of the Australian with a slowish delivery.
Karun Nair and de Kock were dismissed in the same over by Henriques.
Delhi Daredevils’ Rishabh Pant attempts a tough catch against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday. He went after Nehra and smashed him for 3 fours and a six in his 2 overs. If SRH manages to win this match against the Delhi Daredevils, perhaps they will be the first team to book the slot for Playoffs in IPL 2016.
Morris then ran out Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1) in his own follow through as wicketkeeper-batsman Naman Ojha (7), Barinder Sran (1) and Ashish Nehra (1) could only add seven runs in the last over. The Kiwi’s 27 came off 24 balls and included three boundaries.
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“I was a little bit off with my rhythm but I thought the intensity was quite good”, Coulter-Nile said. Nathan Coulter-Nile (4-0-25-2) struggled with his line, bowling two no-balls, but he too contributed to pulling things back for Delhi.
