IPL: Delhi Daredevils Move To Third In Table With Comprehensive Win Over Sunrisers

Delhi Daredevils produced an all-round effort and defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to jump to the third spot in the ongoing 2016 Indian Premier League.

Opting to bowl, the Daredevils first dished out a superb bowling performance to restrict the Sunrisers to a modest 146 for eight and then chased down the target with consummate ease in 18.1 overs, riding on a fine half-century stand between youngsters Sanju Samson (34 not out off 26) and Risabh Pant(39 not out off 26).

By virtue of this win, the Daredevils have moved up to the third spot in the standings with 12 points from 10 games. Despite the loss, the Sunrisers continued to lead the table with 14 points from 11 matches.

Chasing 147 for win, the Daredevils made a decent start, reaching 20 off the first three overs, before Mayank Agarwal (10) drove a length delivery from Ashish Nehra (1/23) straight into the hands of Yuvraj Singh at extra cover.

Quinton de Kock (44 off 31), however, looked in ominous mood and flicked Nehra over square-leg for a massive six and then followed it up with a boundary.

Karun Nair (20 off 17) matched his partner stroke for stroke and clobbered Barinder Sran for two fours in the next over.

De Kock continued his onslaught and struck Sran for a four and six in the eighth over to keep Delhi abreast with the asking rate.

But Moises Henriques (2/19) put a brake on Delhi's chase by picking up two wickets in the 10th over.

Henriques first dismissed Nair with a peach of a yorker and then two balls later accounted for the wicket of dangerous De Kock, caught by Naman Ojha behind the sumps although the batsman should consider himself a tad unlucky as TV replays showed there was hardly any nick.

Thereafter, it was all Samson and Pant show as both youngsters played sensibly and mixed caution with aggression to stitch an unbeaten 72-run stand for the fourth wicket that came off just 50 balls.

The duo fearlessly played their strokes to make short work of the chase against an in-form Sunrisers bowling attack.

Earlier, the Daredevils produced a superb bowling effort to restrict Sunrisers to a modest 146 for eight.

Delhi bowlers pulled things back brilliantly with disciplined effort in the middle and death overs after Shikhar Dhawan (34 off 37) and skipper David Warner (46 off 30) gave Sunrisers a good start, scoring 51 runs without losing any wicket in the six overs of powerplay.

Invited to bat, Sunrisers made a relatively quit start before Dhawan struck the first boundary of the innings in the fourth over.

Dhawan's boundary was followed by two more fours, this time by Warner in the same over of Mohammed Shami (1/26) that yielded 15 runs.

Shami's over seemed to have opened the floodgates as Warner came down heavily on Jayant Yadav (1/32), hitting the off-spinner for two boundaries and a six to pick up 17 runs in the next over.

Despite Warner's quick knock, it was not easy for the batsmen to go for big shots in the relatively slow but bouncy wicket on offer at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

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.

After Warner's dismissal, Dhawan took up the role of the aggressor and struck two fours off JP Duminy in the next over.

Dhawan, however, struggled to bat freely throughout the innings and his 37-ball knock finally came to an end in the 13th over when he was holed out by a running Sanju Samson at deep midwicket off Amit Mishra's (2/19) bowling.

Yuvraj made a run-a-ball 8 before being dismissed by Mishra caught by Risabh Pant, while Moises Henriques fell LBW to Shami as Sunrisers lost the plot towards the end.

Kane Williamson (27 off 24) and Deepak Hooda (10) too struggled to hit big shots as Daredevils bowled brilliantly in the death overs to restrict Sunrisers to a manageable total.