Having completed a double over the Kolkata Knight Riders in this season’s IPL campaign, Shikhar’s much anticipated and blistering form along with the continued purple-patch of Kagiso Rabada, our purple cap holder – were two of the big positives for us, heading into this all-important second meeting with the Sunrisers, as we entered the business end of the tournament this season.
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to field first. A flat track was expected at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, reckoning the batsmen to take good charge. Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan started the proceedings for us.
In the second over, K Ahmed dismissed Prithvi Shaw with a tricky delivery with extra-bounce. Shaw’s dismissal welcomed Colin Munro, who walked into his first appearance in this season. Munro did not waste any time dispatching two 4’s off Sandeep Sharma’s over. Munro continued his hammerings in K Ahmed’s over shortly after the bowler had dismissed Shikhar Dhawan who ended up getting caught at fine leg by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Captain, Shreyas Iyer walked in at 3, finding the boundary through an outside edge off Bhuvneshwar’s last delivery. Later, Munro who had a blistering start, got caught off to a thin edge by Bairstow, off a wider leg-cutter delivery by Abhishek Sharma.
In came Rishabh Pant who teamed up with the skipper, smashing a couple of confident boundaries halfway through the innings, off Rashid Khan. The run rate kept ticking around 8.00 per over. Thanks to some smart and sensible batting display, Pant and skipper Shreyas posted a 50-run partnership off 42 balls. The score stood at 121/3 after 15.0 overs.
Unfortunately, this innings-stabilising partnership came to an end after the skipper, Shreyas Iyer was edged and caught behind by Bairstow off Bhuvneshwar’s delivery. An important innings of 45 runs by our captain put the scorecard to 126/4 at the end of the 16th over.
The run rate was lowered to 7.64 with the triumvirate of K Ahmed, Bhuvneshwar and Rashid continually troubling our batsmen. The score stood at 133/6 in 18.0 overs with the run rate at 7.32.
Keemo Paul played a short cameo for us towards the end of the innings with a few quick hits. After a positive start, the first innings came to a close at 155/7.
Ishant Sharma opened the bowling attack with a spell full of varying deliveries. Warner and Bairstow on the other end continued to play cautiously and see off our opening bowlers’ raw pace and timely variations.
A 50 partnership came up for the Sunrisers’ openers before Warner survived a surprise scare off Keemo Paul’s bouncy delivery in the following over, when the ball edged off his bat only to land safely between the bowler and the on-rushing mid-off.
Paul conceded a no-ball and bowled well to counter the free-hit, shortly after dismissing Bairstow who was caught by Rabada at long-off, in the 10th over. Amit Mishra returned to action for us for the first time this season as he bowled superbly to Warner and Williamson conceding only 4 off the over.
The returning Sunrisers’ captain, Williamson was superbly caught at mid-off by a diving Rabada off Keemo Paul’s delivery. A few drop catches led to the score being 100/2 after 15.0 overs.
The asking rate went to 13.00 when Keemo Paul notched up his 3rd wicket of the game when Bhui was caught by Axar Patel. Following this, Rabada notched up 2 back to back wickets including Warner’s in the 17th over. The scorecard read 108/5 and 48 runs required from 18 balls.
Morris also struck his own spell, dismissing Hooda, Rashid Khan and Abhishek Sharma in the 18th over. Finishing the game came to Rabada’s hands and he just did that. He took his total wickets’ tally to 17 by dismissing Bhuvneshwar and K Ahmed, bowling him over with a perfect Yorker. A target of 156 seemed a bit tricky to defend, but the triple-wicket figures of Chris Morris, Keemo Paul and Kagiso Rabada did get us the job done. This win was the third successive away win for skipper Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi Capitals!
Here is what our captain had to say after the match –
“It started to slow down and me and Rishabh decided that one of us must go on, the way we lost wickets in succession wasn't great but we got some at the back-end from Keemo Paul and Axar. It's a positive thing to carry back home (away wins), the way we bowled was exceptional.”
The man of the match, our very own Keemo Paul –
“Dream come true for me. Everyone asked me to enjoy the biggest league in the world, and why not. Adapted to the wicket, slower balls were gripping. Overall it feels great”
Having completed a double over the Kolkata Knight Riders in this season’s IPL campaign, Shikhar’s much anticipated and blistering form along with the continued purple-patch of Kagiso Rabada, our purple cap holder – were two of the big positives for us, heading into this all-important second meeting with the Sunrisers, as we entered the business end of the tournament this season.
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to field first. A flat track was expected at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, reckoning the batsmen to take good charge. Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan started the proceedings for us.
In the second over, K Ahmed dismissed Prithvi Shaw with a tricky delivery with extra-bounce. Shaw’s dismissal welcomed Colin Munro, who walked into his first appearance in this season. Munro did not waste any time dispatching two 4’s off Sandeep Sharma’s over. Munro continued his hammerings in K Ahmed’s over shortly after the bowler had dismissed Shikhar Dhawan who ended up getting caught at fine leg by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Captain, Shreyas Iyer walked in at 3, finding the boundary through an outside edge off Bhuvneshwar’s last delivery. Later, Munro who had a blistering start, got caught off to a thin edge by Bairstow, off a wider leg-cutter delivery by Abhishek Sharma.
In came Rishabh Pant who teamed up with the skipper, smashing a couple of confident boundaries halfway through the innings, off Rashid Khan. The run rate kept ticking around 8.00 per over. Thanks to some smart and sensible batting display, Pant and skipper Shreyas posted a 50-run partnership off 42 balls. The score stood at 121/3 after 15.0 overs.
Unfortunately, this innings-stabilising partnership came to an end after the skipper, Shreyas Iyer was edged and caught behind by Bairstow off Bhuvneshwar’s delivery. An important innings of 45 runs by our captain put the scorecard to 126/4 at the end of the 16th over.
The run rate was lowered to 7.64 with the triumvirate of K Ahmed, Bhuvneshwar and Rashid continually troubling our batsmen. The score stood at 133/6 in 18.0 overs with the run rate at 7.32.
Keemo Paul played a short cameo for us towards the end of the innings with a few quick hits. After a positive start, the first innings came to a close at 155/7.
Ishant Sharma opened the bowling attack with a spell full of varying deliveries. Warner and Bairstow on the other end continued to play cautiously and see off our opening bowlers’ raw pace and timely variations.
A 50 partnership came up for the Sunrisers’ openers before Warner survived a surprise scare off Keemo Paul’s bouncy delivery in the following over, when the ball edged off his bat only to land safely between the bowler and the on-rushing mid-off.
Paul conceded a no-ball and bowled well to counter the free-hit, shortly after dismissing Bairstow who was caught by Rabada at long-off, in the 10th over. Amit Mishra returned to action for us for the first time this season as he bowled superbly to Warner and Williamson conceding only 4 off the over.
The returning Sunrisers’ captain, Williamson was superbly caught at mid-off by a diving Rabada off Keemo Paul’s delivery. A few drop catches led to the score being 100/2 after 15.0 overs.
The asking rate went to 13.00 when Keemo Paul notched up his 3rd wicket of the game when Bhui was caught by Axar Patel. Following this, Rabada notched up 2 back to back wickets including Warner’s in the 17th over. The scorecard read 108/5 and 48 runs required from 18 balls.
Morris also struck his own spell, dismissing Hooda, Rashid Khan and Abhishek Sharma in the 18th over. Finishing the game came to Rabada’s hands and he just did that. He took his total wickets’ tally to 17 by dismissing Bhuvneshwar and K Ahmed, bowling him over with a perfect Yorker. A target of 156 seemed a bit tricky to defend, but the triple-wicket figures of Chris Morris, Keemo Paul and Kagiso Rabada did get us the job done. This win was the third successive away win for skipper Shreyas Iyer’s Delhi Capitals!
Here is what our captain had to say after the match –
“It started to slow down and me and Rishabh decided that one of us must go on, the way we lost wickets in succession wasn't great but we got some at the back-end from Keemo Paul and Axar. It's a positive thing to carry back home (away wins), the way we bowled was exceptional.”
The man of the match, our very own Keemo Paul –
“Dream come true for me. Everyone asked me to enjoy the biggest league in the world, and why not. Adapted to the wicket, slower balls were gripping. Overall it feels great”