IPL Highlights, SunRisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Daredevils: SunRisers Hyderabad Beat Delhi Daredevils By 7 Wickets
Young Prithvi Shaw, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant are mainly spearheading Delhi Daredevils' batting unit.
Delhi Daredevils paid the price for flawed team selection and poor fielding as Sunrisers Hyderabad pushed them towards exit door with a seven-wicket victory in an IPL encounter on Saturday. Yusuf Pathan (27 no off 12 balls) and skipper Kane Williamson (32 no off 30 balls) kept their calm surpassing the 164-run target in 19.5 overs on a tricky surface. Pathan's dropped catch by Vijay Shankar was one of the game-changing moments during the chase. Despite Amit Mishra's (2/19 in 4 overs) brilliant bowling, the lack of second specialist spinners hurt Delhi dearly as Avesh Khan (0/47 in 3 overs) and Dan Christian (0/37 in 3.5 overs) gave away 84 runs in less than seven overs which proved to be decisive. Sunrisers maintained their pole position with 14 points from nine games while Delhi after their seventh defeat are almost out of the competition. Only a mathematical possibility remains if they win all their remaining four home games. Opener Alex Hales (45, 31 balls) was dropped by Maxwell at deep mid-wicket boundary off Avesh Khan's bowling when the batsman was on 9. Avesh, however, got a rough treatment, when he was taken to cleaners with 27 runs coming off his second over with Hales hitting him for three sixes and Shikhar Dhawan (33 off 30 balls) the other.
Delhi Daredevils finish on a high in the end despite that wobble in the death overs. 17 came off the final over which takes Delhi to 163/5. They were 125/2 at 15 overs, going great guns with Iyer and Pant in the middle. But a mixture of brainfade and terrific execution of slower balls and yorkers by SRH bowlers choked the run-flow. Young Shaw flickered away, giving the much needed boost at the top with his second fifty of the season. What a comeback by SRH, their bowlers are just so good at the fag end of the innings. It's a must-win game for DD, let's see if their bowlers can restrict the SRH batting. Table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will be aiming to cement their playoff berth when they take on a struggling Delhi Daredevils (DD) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. With six wins from eight games and 12 points in their kitty, Hyderabad boasts of one of the best bowling attacks in the ongoing IPL season. Delhi, on the other hand, has managed to carve out just three wins from nine games and are placed at the sixth place in the points table. Skipper Williamson has carried Hyderabad's batting on his shoulders, amassing 322 runs from eight innings with an average of 46. However, Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha have not given the required support to Hyderabad's batting. Saha has been poor with the bat with just 79 runs from seven games while Dhawan has been a bit better with 152 runs from seven innings. Yusuf Pathan has also failed to fire on several occasions, a thing which he is known for. Hyderabad's strength mostly relies on their bowlers, who didn't let Bhuvneshwar Kumar's absence felt in last few matches as the medium-pacer is suffering a back injury. Williamson is, however, hopeful that Bhuvneshwar will be fit for the game against Delhi. The side has succeeded in defending low totals as they bundled out formidable Kings XI Punjab for just 119 in 19.2 overs while defending a target of 132. (Play Fantasy Cricket & Win Lakhs everyday!)
Earlier, while defending a modest target of 152, SRH bowlers restricted Rajasthan Royals' chase at 140. Spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan have bagged eight and 10 wickets each from eight games while medium pacer Siddarth Kaul has been the most impressive with 11 wickets from eight games. Another medium pacer, Basil Thampi, who has featured in just three games for Hyderabad, has emerged with clinical shows. The 24-year-old has five scalps. On the other side, Delhi cannot afford another defeat if they want a playoff berth. The side has performed well under new skipper Shreyas Iyer as Gautam Gambhir stepped down following Delhi's lacklustre start to the campaign. In their last clash against Rajasthan, Delhi came out victorious in a rain-affected tie. Young Prithvi Shaw, Iyer and stumper Rishabh Pant have been Delhi's batting mainstay even as their foreign recruits like Colin Munro and Glenn Maxwell have failed to fire. (SCORECARD)
While Shaw has 140 runs from four games, Iyer and Pant have amassed 307 and 375 runs respectively from nine games each. In the bowling unit, pacer Trent Boult has performed well in death overs, claiming 13 wickets from nine games. However, medium pacers Avesh Khan, Liam Plunkett, and spinner Shahbaz Nadeem need to step up and come out with their best to support Boult. Overall, it will be an uphill task for Delhi to stop a courageous Hyderabad side on Saturday.
Squad:
Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer (Captain), Rishabh Pant (WK), Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala.
SunRisers Hyderabad: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shikhar Dhawan, Shakib Al Hasan, Kane Williamson (Captain), Manish Pandey, Carlos Brathwaite, Yusuf Pathan, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Rashid Khan, Ricky Bhui, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, T Natarajan, Mohammad Nabi, Basil Thampi, K Khaleel Ahmed, Sandeep Sharma, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Tanmay Agarwal, Shreevats Goswami, Bipul Sharma, Mehdi Hasan, Alex Hales.
When and Where to Watch SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) vs Delhi Daredevils (DD)
India: TV: Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD (English, Hindi, Tamil). Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: Sky Sports 2. Live Streaming: Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports.
Bangladesh: TV: GTV and Star Sports.
USA: TV: Willow TV. Live Streaming: Willow TV Live Online.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
New Zealand: TV: Sky Sport 1. Live Streaming: Sky Go NZ.
South Africa: TV: SuperSport 2. Live Streaming: SuperSport Live Video.
Middle East: TV: OSN Sports Cricket. Live Streaming: OSN Play.
Singapore: TV: Star Cricket.
SRH vs DD Highlights
That's all from us! The first game today turned out to be a lopsided contest where Chennai got the better of Bangalore for the second time in 2018 while in this game, Hyderabad kicked their weakness (chasing) away and sealed the no. 1 spot again. Tomorrow we have another double header lined-up for you. First Mumbai will host Kolkata at 1600 IST (1030 GMT) followed by Punjab welcoming Rajasthan at 2000 IST (1430 GMT). Do join us for those games. Till then, goodbye and good night. Cheers!
Rashid Khan is the Man of the Match for the third time this season. Once again he was on song tonight and spun the web around the Delhi batsmen. His figures of 4-0-23-2 turned out to be a potential matching-winning one.
Delhi fought well tonight, first with the bat and then in the later stages with the ball. The department that led them down tonight was - FIELDING! The famous saying - 'Catches win matches', fits perfectly to this. It was Glenn Maxwell who dropped Alex Hales on 9 which saw the Englishman adding 36 more while Vijay Shankar handed a life to Yusuf Pathan on a duck and he made the most of it, scoring a match-winning 27 from 12 balls. Hard for all you Delhi fans out there to accept this - if not fully their chances to make it through seemed to have crushed tonight.
Kane Williamson stepped in and looked positive from the word go. He along with Manish Pandey was motoring along well but a few tight overs towards the end, spiced the required rate up. That led to a wicket of the latter and it seemed like the hosts would crumble under pressure. They almost did but Yusuf Pathan, through a reprieve made Delhi pay big time. He played the striker role to his skipper as the duo strung 32 off 16 balls to take their team over the line to extend their winning streak to 4 wins in a row.
Hyderabad have made a statement to all those who feel they aren't good while chasing. They have done it here tonight in a great manner and need to be praised for their effort. Chasing a target of 164, Hales and Dhawan got them off to an electric start in the Powerplay. They added 76 for the opening wicket and that very much set the tone for the chase. Amit Mishra, the experienced campaigner, then removed both of them to somewhat gain the momentum back in Delhi's favor.
HYDERABAD WIN BY 7 WICKETS! Christian bowls a fullish delivery on the stumps, Williamson whips it away through mid-wicket, the ball rolls in the gap and they take the winning run. Williamson punches the air in delight as he completes the final run. Goes down to the other end and hugs his partner as the Hyderabad duo celebrate their victory!
Is that it? No, Maxwell runs around quickly and keeps it down to a single. Pathan plays a lofted drive to long on and manages to get just the single. Scores level.
FOUR! More runs! And Hyderabad inch closer! Christian is just not getting it right, he has given away 12 off the first three deliveries. Short ball and Pathan sits back as he goes really hard at that one. Gets a top edge over Shankar, who is inside the circle at fine leg. The ball races away to the fence. 2 needed from 3 balls, Hyderabad shouldn't lose it from here.
SIX! High and handsome! Pathan is the man for Hyderabad! Once again he showcases his power, it was a low full toss a tough delivery to put away. He manages to get enough wood on it and clears the long on fence with absolute ease.
Williamson is just in! Pathan slaps it back to the bowler, who gets a hand to it and the ball ricochets towards mid-wicket region. Christian went after the ball and hits the stumps with a flat throw at his end, but Williamson makes it in the nick of time. Technically that's a missed opportunity by Christian!