Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in a high-stakes encounter in which both teams continued to throw punches at one another without relenting. The victory ended Delhi Capitals’ three-match losing streak.
When Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt pulled together 112 runs in only 11 overs after David Warner was dismissed for a second-ball duck, the Capitals were briefly on track to chase down a 198-run total.
After that, a wicket after another fell, and before Delhi could react, Sunrisers had recovered thanks to the cunning of Mayank Markande, who finished with 2 for 20. Sunrisers have now won three games in their last eight, compared to Capitals’ two in eight, keeping Sunrisers at the bottom of the standings.
After playing in the middle of the order, Abhishek Sharma returned to open the innings and got off to a good start by lofting Ishant Sharma for two consecutive boundaries in the first over.
Ishant enjoyed having Mayank Agarwal out to a short ball in his second over, but Abhishek wasn’t in the mood to let off. He smashed 43 in Sunrisers’ 62 for 2 after the first six, taking Ishant for four boundaries in the seamer’s third over.
As they only gave up 21, the Capitals controlled the following four overs. Despite the short boundaries, Marsh altered the game’s tempo during this period by slowing things down and letting the batsmen push the pace on a surface where the ball was holding up.
Axar Patel was the catcher on both occasions when Harry Brook toe-ended a draw to the edge of the ring, two balls after he had Aiden Markram picking out deep midwicket.
Heinrich Klaasen entered the contest by dismantling Mukesh Kumar as the 11th over ended with 24 runs as Abhishek sped to a 25-ball half-century. It was started by Abhishek with two consecutive fours, and it was concluded by Klaasen with a massive six off a leg cutter that fell to the ground.
Although Axar varied his pace and angles to finish with 1 for 29 from his four overs, it was difficult to escape him. The big wicket of Abhishek for a 36-ball 67 was the reward. If Klaasen hadn’t hammered him for two sixes to end his spell, it might have been even more remarkable.
Sunrisers were able to score 62 runs off the final five overs thanks to a stand of 53 runs off 33 balls between Klaasen and Abdul Samad, as well as some late runs from Akeal Hosein.
Sunrisers got off to the best possible start when Bhuvneshwar Kumar forced Warner to chop on the second ball of the chase. However, Marsh and Salt chased down Hosein’s left-arm darts and increased their partnership’s half-century in just 29 balls.
Sunrisers attempted to induce overs from spin, supposedly in an effort to counteract dew, but Hosein was too short, and the batters enjoyed a decent spread against the short square boundaries.
The odds of the Capitals winning were 19.43% after five overs, but by the end of seven, they had risen to 45.68%. That was partially caused by Marsh’s takedown of Umran Malik.
For Marsh to go inside the line and aid the ball, beat the long leg twice for sixes in a 22-run over, Malik kept bowling short and into the body. By pounding two bludgeoning fours of his own against the short ball, Salt opened and closed that over. This put Sunrisers in a tight spot.
Markande connected the dots by taking advantage of the sluggish pitch before he finally got Salt out with a last-second return catch that he just about held onto.
Salt had set the tone for the chase with his first half-century, so it was a significant wicket. Seven balls later, Manish Pandey attempted to run down the track, but Abhishek cut his length and defeated him in the air and off the field.
Marsh now had the responsibility of bringing the Capitals home, but that wasn’t to be since Hosein brilliantly retaliated after the initial assault by firing him. He valiantly put it up for Marsh to go after getting walloped out of the ground on the previous delivery.
However, this one gripped and spun, and Marsh sliced it to Markram. That was the game for Sunrisers right there. Axar exerted some force in the dying stages, but the middle-order delay following the Salt-Marsh stand turned out to be the deciding factor.