DELHI DARE TO DREAM
Delhi Daredevils rode on an overall team performance to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in the IPL match at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi on Tuesday night. This was Delhi Daredevils’ first win after five losses on the trot and they are now placed sixth in the standings and can still qualify for the playoffs. SRH are placed third in the IPL standings, and a victory would have put them on the verge of playoff qualification.
Earlier, star batsman Yuvraj Singh signalled his return to form with a stylish half century to propel Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to 185 for 3.
The Punjab southpaw (70 not out; 41b; 11x4, 1x6) made the most of the life he got on 29 when he was dropped by Sanju Samson at deep square leg to bring up his fifty in 34 balls as the visitors accumulated 71 runs in the last five overs.
Put into bat, skipper David Warner (30 from 21) and Shikhar Dhawan (28 from 17) gave the visitors a flying start, putting on 53 runs before pacer Mohammed Shami in his very second delivery cleaned up the Aussie, who struck four boundaries and a six over backward point.
Daredevils looked in a spot of bother with both the left handers going hammer and tongs, before Shami controlled the damage with a rip roaring yorker, which saw Warner’s off-stump flying.
Warner’s dismissal brought in the in-form Kane Williamson (24 from 24), who along with Dhawan added 22 runs before the first strategic timeout did the trick for Delhi, in the form of the Indian left-hander’s wicket. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra got the crucial breakthrough in his very second ball when Dhawan, after smashing four boundaries and a six, attempted to slice a googly over the ropes only to find the safe hands of a running Shreyas Iyer at deep square.
Shami then jolted the visitors with the crucial wicket of the Kiwi skipper Williamson, who, after hitting one four and six, ended up top-edging it to Chris Morris at deep square leg.
In came Yuvraj, who initially struggled to put bat to ball but opened up with two glorious straight drives after getting his eyes in. The left-hander made the most of South African paceman Kagiso Rabada’s poor line and length, clobbering him for a four and six off consecutive balls in the 18th over.
All-rounder Moises Henriques (25 not out) played the perfect second fiddle to Yuvraj as the left-right combo added an unbeaten 93 runs for the fourth wicket from 51 deliveries.
Delhi had nothing to cheer about in the first innings, except for the two wickets of Shami and one from Mishra. Rabada was the most expensive of the bowlers, leaking 59 runs off his four overs. —