The Sunrisers Hyderabad had to fight all the way to secure their third win in four matches, beating the Delhi Daredevils by three wickets with four balls remaining in their IPL match in Delhi on Friday.
Having restricted the home team to just 114 for eight in their 20 overs, it should have been a relatively simple task, but they were tied up by the Delhi spinners, Shahbaz Nadeem and Johan Botha, and made life difficult for themselves with some poor shots which cost valuable wickets and gave the defending team hope at crucial times.
The Sunrisers were knocked back by the run-out of Akshath Reddy in the first over, but by the end of the power play, they were well on track and ahead of the required run rate of 5.75 an over.
Then the spinners put the brakes on, taking thee wickets between them. Morne Morkel got into the act, taking two wickets in successive overs so that from a position of strength at 69 for three, the Sunrisers were struggling at 71 for five.
But an over from Umesh Yadav which brought 13 runs, including two fours by Ashish Reddy before he threw his wicket away with a huge and poorly executed drive, turned the tide back again.
The Sunrisers were put in their strong position by brilliant bowling all round, particularly by South African spearhead Dale Steyn who set the tone by dismissing David Warner with the fourth ball of the innings. He later bowled Nadeem, who was beaten by pure pace, conceding only 11 runs in his four overs.
If the Daredevils were lifted by taking 12 runs off Ishant Sharma’s first over, they were shattered when, having changed ends, the lanky paceman made amends by capturing two important wickets with successive deliveries.
First, Mahela Jayawardene was caught by Steyn at deep mid-on, then, with his next delivery, Ishant found the edge of Virender Sehwag’s bat, to be brilliantly caught by Cameron White in the slips. Being three down for 26 inside five overs was not in the Daredevils’ pre-match planning.
After that it was a battle for survival. Amit Mishra continued with his superb form with his leg-spin, tying up the batsmen as he bowled straight through. He was rewarded when Manprit Juneja, perhaps sensing the need to increase the run-rate, went for a big drive and was beaten by the spin, a thick edge carrying to Cameron White at point.
While Mishra was wheeling away at one end, the support bowlers were changed rapidly and there was no weak link as the Daredevils, making a mockery of their name, laboured to 72 for five after 15 overs. Mishra’s four overs cost just 15 runs, which with a cool innings of 16 under pressure, earned him the man of the match award. Anand Rajan collected the wicket of Johan Botha as he conceded just 20.
A strategic time-out did not exactly change the batsmen’s approach, but it certainly unsettled Ishant, who gave up 17 runs in the 17th over thanks to a no-ball for four, and a six off the free hit from Kedar Jadhav, plus two wides.
But the Daredevils could not maintain the momentum; two wickets falling to Thisara Perera in the 18th over. Both Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel were caught on the boundary with indifferent shots as they tried to open up. They were far short of a competitive total, but they made it one.
DELHI DAREDEVILS: V Sehwag, DA Warner, DPMD Jayawardene (capt), J Botha, MC Juneja, KM Jadhav (wk), IK Pathan, M Morkel, S Kaul, S Nadeem, UT Yadav
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: PA Reddy, PA Patel (wk), KC Sangakkara (capt), CL White, NLTC Perera, GH Vihari, A Ashish Reddy, A Mishra, DW Steyn, I Sharma, Anand Rajan
