Dhawan, Williamson seal playoff berth for Sunrisers
Unbeaten 176run stand hands SRH ninewicket win, Rishabh Pant’s 128* for Daredevils goes in vain
NEWDELHI: Rishabh Pant’s brutal 128 not out went in vain as Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Kane Williamson ensured Sunrisers Hyderabad became the first to seal their playoffs berth in the Indian Premier League on Thursday.
Pant seemed to have taken bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils to a winning total, only for Dhawan and Williamson to inflict the damage by just being alert to scoring opportunities at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.
In the battle between Delhi cricketers Pant and Dhawan lay the fate of the match and Sunrisers marched to a resounding win, which threw Daredevils out of the competition.
Replying to Daredevils’ 187/5, Sunrisers coasted to 191/1. Dhawan, back in form after an elbow injury, was 92 not out (50 b, 9x4, 4x6) while his Kiwi partner was unbeaten on 83 (53 b, 8x4, 2x6) after completing his sixth fifty of the tournament.
Rishabh had set the Kotla on fire, smashing 128 (63b, 15x4, 7x6). If that had raised hopes for Daredevils, Dhawan and Williamson dashed that by bringing their 100run partnership off 62 balls and then continued the carnage.
Sunrisers had lost Alex Hales early but kept their cool. Even while the opportunities for boundaries came intermittently, the two kept collecting singles and twos. From the third over till the end of the seventh, they ran for 20 off the 42 runs.
The carnage began with 15 taken off Vijay Shankar’s over as Dhawan helped himself to his second fifty this IPL, off just 30 deliveries. Soon Williamson got to his fifty, off 38 balls. The runs kept coming after the first strategic timeout with Amit Mishra leaking 14 and Shahbaz Nadeem going for 18.
Earlier, it had all been about Pant. The youngster, with his first century of season.