Sunrisers Hyderabad registered their fourth win of VIVO IPL 2017 when they defeated the Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs in Hyderabad on Wednesday evening. After opting to bat first, SRH were powered by half-centuries by Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson to 191-4; their bowlers then defended the score by restricting the visitors to 176-5.
It wasn’t a smooth start for the hosts, who were jolted in the second over when Chris Morris dismissed David Warner; the SRH captain top edged a short of a length delivery and holed out to the fielder at fine leg.
Williamson, playing his first match of the season, took a couple of deliveries to settle down, but made his presence felt with a beautifully played square drive in the fourth over. His next aggressive strokes were in the seventh over when he picked up consecutive sixes off Angelo Mathews; the first six was a whip over the square-leg boundary, and the second was a lofted drive over mid-off that went the distance.
At the other end, Dhawan focused on collecting singles while putting away the odd delivery to the boundary. At the halfway stage, SRH were 80-1, with both batsmen on identical scores – 37.
In the eleventh over, Williamson pulled Pat Cummins over the square leg boundary, and raced to a 33-ball half-century in the following over. In the fourteenth, the Kiwi batsman collected two sixes off Amit Mishra. Dhawan then brought up his half-century – his first of the season – in the 15th over; the left-hander consumed 40 balls to get to the milestone.
After collecting two boundaries in the sixteenth over, Williamson perished in the seventeenth – courtesy an excellent running catch by Shreyas Iyer; the Kiwi batsman had made 89 (51 balls, 6 fours and 5 sixes) and the 136-run partnership was broken.
Dhawan then stepped on the gas and collected two fours and a six before he hit Morris down the throat of square-leg; the left-hander made 70 from 50 balls aided with seven fours and a six. Yuvraj Singh perished the following delivery, bowled behind his legs, as SRH sipped to 170-4.
Deepak Hooda (9 from 4) and Moises Henriques (12 from 6) collected 17 runs off the final over – bowled by Zaheer Khan – to help their team to 191-4.
Chris Morris was the only successful bowler for the Daredevils; the speedster bowled two overs upfront and then the 17th and 19th overs, and finished with impressive figures of 4-26. The sixteen remaining overs – shared by five other bowlers – cost DD 164 runs.
DD lost the opener Sam Billings, who struck three boundaries, in the second over of the chase. But Sanju Samson and Karun Nair put the chase back on the track with a 71-run partnership in which both batsmen nearly matched each other stroke for strokeand played some exquisite strokes. Samson hit three fours and two sixes in his 33-ball 42, while Karun played some pleasing drives and a lofted off-drive which fetched him six.
With the two young lads going so well, DD were well on course for a win. But in the tenth over – Yuvraj Singh’s first over – Karun was run out at the non-striker’s end attempting a risky second run. Three balls later, Rishabh Pant – sent to bat at number four – holed out to long on first ball.
Samson was dismissed in the fourteenth over when he miscued a slower delivery from Mohammed Siraj and was caught just outside the circle. DD 105-4 at this stage, needed 87 from 41 balls.
Shreyas Iyer (50* from 31 balls), who hit Rashid Khan for two sixes in the leg-spinner’s last over, and Angelo Mathews (31) kept their team in the chase by keepingthe scoreboard ticking and collecting boundaries whenever bad balls were presented. At the start of the start of the last over, DD needed 24, which became 17 from the final four balls. But Siddarth Kaul bowled four superb deliveries – despite being hit for a six second ball – to deny the visitors. DD finished at 176-5.
For SRH, the debutant Mohammed Siraj (2-39) was the most successful bowler. Kaul (1-32) and Yuvraj (1-6) chipped in with wickets too. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was impressive yet again, returning figures of 4-0-29-0 when the rest of the bowlers went at nearly nine runs an over.
Brief Scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 191-4 (Kane Williamson 89, Shikhar Dhawan 70, Chris Morris 4-26) beat Delhi Daredevils: 176-5 (Shreyas Iyer 50*, Sanju Samson 42, Mohammed Siraj 2-39)
Man of the Match: Kane Williamson
