Delhi Capitals register thumping win over Sunrisers Hyderabad

Delhi Capitals (DC) registered a thumping win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday (22 September) to collect two more points and jump to top of the points table. It was an all-round display from the Rishabh Pant-led side in a game where SRH only played catch-up throughout. Sportzpics

Winning the toss, SRH opted to bat first and got off to the worst possible start thanks to DC’s new-ball bowlers. Axar Patel and Anrich Nortje picked up two wickets apiece while Kagiso Rabada ended up with three wickets. Avesh Khan and R Ashwin too bowled well. However, there were some worried faces in DC camp after Marcus Stoinis pulled out at the last moment while bowling. He did not take further part in the match but cameras showed smile on his face when Delhi were chasing, reflecting that things were not really bad with his injury. Sportzpics

At one stage, SRH were 29/2 and the side needed captain Kane Williamson to once again save them. However, Kane, who last played any cricket back in June during World Test Championship, looked out of touch and ended up playing a fault shot, his innings coming to an premature end. He scored 18 off 26 balls. And with other batters failing as well, SRH ended up putting a mere 134/9 on the scoreboard at the end of 20 overs. Sportzpics.

Chasing the total, DC got off to a solid start with both openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan looking good. However, Shaw got out for 11 in the third over. Dhawan carried on the stroke making and scored 42 off 37 balls to set the tone in the chase. He got out but Shreyas Iyer, playing his first game since his shoulder injury, played as if he had never left the ground. He stroked 47 off 41 balls to take DC to the winning mark. His innings included lovely shots – cuts, cover drives, pulls among other shots. He hit two sixes and two fours respectively, anchoring the innings pretty well. Sportzpics.

After fall of Shikhar Dhawan, DC captain Rishabh Pant came out to bat and he played a blinder to ensure DC scored runs at a brisk rate with required rate never jumping up. He hit 35 off just 21 balls, which included 3 fours and 2 sixes. Most of his runs came via the pull shot that he fancies playing. The SRH bowlers bowled short and that eased things a lot for Pant, who rocked on back foot and continued playing his shots. Sportzpics

Rashid Khan was the best player in the field for SRH. He not only picked up a wicket for Hyderabad but also scored vital 22 runs off 18 balls in the death overs, including 2 fours and 1 six, to help SRH reach 134/9 in 20 overs. He bowled his quota of four overs and picked up a wicket of Shikhar Dhawan while giving away just 26 runs. As usual, Rashid was terrific in the field as well. But his effort was not enough to take his side to a win. Sportzpics