Karun Nair showed there was place for finesse and street-smart cricket amid the big-hitting in T20s. His unbeaten 59-ball 83 single-handedly helped Delhi Daredevils beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets in a last-ball thriller in Raipur to keep their playoff ambitions burning bright.
With Daredevils needing 6 off two deliveries, Nair, who had walked in to bat at No. 3, muscled successive boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar to pull off a win that may have not been possible had Sunrisers fielded a tad better than they did. Nair, who was sedate initially, was lucky to survive a caught-behind appeal on 23 in the ninth over, with Daredevils needing 105 off 69. David Warner then put down a sitter when the batsman was on 51. As it turned out, those two moments had a significant bearing on the outcome as Sunrisers, with 16 points, may yet have to win their final league game against Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata to control their fate.
While Rishabh Pant was the aggressor in the 73-run, second-wicket stand, Nair was happy to farm strike and play himself in before the stroke of luck with the caught-behind appeal brought about a change in mindset. By the time Pant was run out, courtesy Bhuvneshwar’s direct hit from deep cover for 32, Nair had switched gears. It meant Warner’s wonderfully crafted 56-ball 73 was consigned to being second-best.
The game started off as a battle of wits. Sunrisers were watchful upfront against Zaheer Khan after being sent in to bat, but the pressure built up at one end was released by Jayant Yadav, the offspinner, and Nathan Coulter-Nile as they motored to 42 without loss in five overs, before the brakes were applied courtesy two run-outs.
Shikhar Dhawan, far from his fluent best, was the first to go when Carlos Brathwaite, replacing the injured Chris Morris, stopped a drive by diving to his left and then hurling a throw back at the striker’s end with the batsmen well short of the crease. Three balls late, Amit Mishra’s half-stop off his own bowling resulted in confusion in the running between the wickets as Hooda was run-out courtesy a direct hit at the bowler’s end. At 48 for 2, the need of the hour was consolidation.
Yuvraj Singh hung around for 10 deliveries, one of which was sent screaming behind point off a fierce cut, before Coulter-Nile had him chop one onto the stumps, the two-paced nature of the pitch surfacing as the ball kept low to take the inside edge. Even as wickets tumbled, Warner was a picture of supreme confidence as he flayed the pacers with flat-batted pulls and slaps through the off side.
His technique against the spin twins – Mishra and Yadav – was equally effective as he used the depth of the crease to make room and bring his bottom hand into play. Once the off side field was opened up, he kept carving boundaries to make batting look ridiculously easy to bring up his 32nd fifty, the most in IPL history.
He found able support from Moises Henriques, who milked the singles, before Sunrisers cut loose in the 12th over, which went for 13, to bring about a momentum switch. But an attempt to hit with JP Duminy’s spin towards deep midwicket shortly after resulted in Henriques’ wicket, which may have been six at most venues. A sprightly 32-run stand was broken as Sunrisers were pegged back again.
When Eoin Morgan, out of sorts after a prolonged break, miscued a short-arm jab to long-on, Sunrisers had lost whatever momentum they gathered. It needed Naman Ojha Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s enterprise – the pair scored 34 off the last three overs – to take Sunrisers close to the 160-mark.
Daredevils lost Quinton de Kock early, but Nair and Pant kept the asking rate within the realms of possibility with tactful strike rotation peppered with the odd boundaries. Apart from swatting away full tosses he received from time to time, Nair’s use of the sweep shots to negate Karn Sharma’s legspin was impressive. Nair had a second reprieve on 51 when Warner put down a sitter at long-on; the pressure was firmly on Sunrisers.
Two potential Mustafizur Rahman overs with Daredevils needing 52 off 30 meant they had a ray of hope. When Duminy, put down on 17 by Bhuvneshwar, holed out to Warner off the next delivery, the game was wide open. But Nair muscled two sixes in the same over off Barinder Sran to allay fears of a meltdown. Mustafizur’s tight final over that went for just five left Daredevils needing 11 off the final over, but Nair wasn’t to be denied as his third half-century in a winning cause kept Daredevils alive.