Till Tuesday, Sunrisers Hyderabad were the only team in IPL 2020 without a single point on the board. However, Rashid Khan and Kane Williamson made sure that their team came away with two points against the till-then undefeated Delhi Capitals.
Winning the toss, Delhi skipper Shreyas Iyer elected to field first.
Hyderabad openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow began slowly – some tight Delhi bowling ensuring only 38 runs in the powerplay.
Both players upped the ante a little after the end of the powerplay and had 77 runs on the board before Amit Mishra got the better of Warner, dismissing him for 45 off 33 balls.
A couple of overs later Manish Pandey departed, also at the hands of Mishra, having made just 3 runs.
With the openers not having really had an explosive start, it was left to the calm and cool Kiwi Kane Williamson, who captained Hyderabad last season, to get things going.
While Williamson’s innings wasn’t replete with big hits, he showed off the skills that have made him one of the world’s most successful cricketers – placement, timing and a pair of the best wrists in the business.
With Bairstow holding strong at the other end, Williamson added a solid 41 off 26 balls with five boundaries.
Williamson’s knock, together with Bairstow’s 53 off 48 balls, meant Hyderabad posted a very defendable total of 162/4 in their 20 overs.
Delhi lost Prithvi Shaw in the first over itself, courtesy Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Kumar, T Natarajan and Abhishek Sharma kept the Delhi batsmen largely quiet and by the end of the 7th over Delhi had just 42 runs on the board.
That’s when Warner introduced Rashid Khan into the attack. And the plucky spinner rewarded his captain right away, dismissing Shreyas Iyer for 17.
Not too long after, Rashid made quick work of the dangerous Shikhar Dhawan as well, sending him back for 34 off 31 balls. Delhi Capitals 62/3 after 11.3 overs.
Bhuvneshwar was brought back in the 16th over to counter Shimron Hetmyer (21 off 12 balls), who had already struck two sixes, and the pace spearhead delivered with the West Indian’s wicket.
When Rashid Khan stepped up to bowl his last over and the 17th of the match, Delhi needed 49 off 24 balls with 6 wickets in hand.
However, when Rishabh Pant failed to clear the long boundary at backward square leg and the ball fell into Priyam Garg’s hands instead, Delhi knew they were facing an uphill task.
Natarajan and Khaleel Ahmed accounted for Marcus Stoinis (11 off 9 balls) and Axar Patel (5 off 6 balls) soon after with Delhi ending their 20 overs at 147/7 – losing the match by 15 runs.
Rashid Khan was named Man of the Match for his figures of 3/14 in 4 overs.
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