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SRH are known to defend well at their home ground in Hyderabad but it was a different pitch, a different country in fact, yet they managed to execute their skills to perfection. Bhuvneshwar Kumar started well with a wicket first up and then came back in later spell for another breakthrough. Rashid Khan was at his best, bowling at right pace on this wicket and making it difficult for batsmen to pick his variations. Natrajan too bowled as per the plan and executed series of yorkers perfectly. This concerted effort from bowlers helped SRH defend 162 that they had managed in the first innings at loss of 4 wickets.

Steady start for SRH

Shreyad Iyer won the toss and elected to field first as most of the captains have this season, considering the dew factor. The pitch was two paced and it was not easy to play shots through the line. Warner and especially Bairstow mistimed a lot initially but did not throw away their wicket. They scored 38 in the powerplay as the first six of the match came off Warner’s bat in the 6th over. The full ball bowled outside off from Nortje was dispatched over cover boundary. The 77 run opening stand broke as Warner was dismissed for a 33-ball 45. He got caught behind trying to reverse sweep Mishra. In his next over Mishra accounted for Manish Pandey too, caught at mid wicket with mistimed slog sweep.

Kane Williamson, included in the XI for the first time this IPL, proved how important he is for Sunrisers. Alongwith Bairstow, he forged a 52 run stand, being the prime aggressor. It looked SRH would post a higher total with these two n the middle, but Rabada’s brilliant bowling at death restricted their scoring. He gave away just 9 runs in his last two while accounting for both Bairstow (53 off 48) and Williamson (41 off 26) in successive overs. Thanks to 7-ball 12 from debutant Abdul Samad, that included a four and a six of Nortje, SRH posted a target of 163 for Delhi.

DC chase 162

Bhuvneswar Kumar began the defence on a right note as he dismissed Shaw in the first over- caught behind off an away swinger. Natrajan and Khaleel bowled tight lengths as Delhi ended up at below 6 per over in the powerplay. Iyer was finding it hard to time the ball and find the gaps. His troubled stay at crease was ended by Rashid Khan in his very first over. He was caught at sweeper cover by Samad. Dhawan from the other end kept the scoreboard ticking with occasional boundaries but as required run rate started to increase, he too got out. He was caught behind off Rashid. Pant and Hetmyer with some mighty blows rekindled the hope for Delhi. Pant hit Abhishek for twin sixes while Hetmyer did the same to Khaleel.

Excellent bowling at death by SRH

But Warner brought back his ace bowler Bhuvi in the 16th over and he delivered a wicket first ball. Hetmyer(21) holed out to long off trying to hit another six off a slow wide ball from Kumar. In the next over, Rashid took Pant’s(28 off 27) wicket to make Delhi’s chances bleaker. Natrajan with his barrage of yorkers did not let the runs to leak at death and was rewarded with the wicket of Stoinis.  With 28 needed off last over, Khaleel conceded only 12 and won his side the game with a margin of 15 runs.

Rashid Khan for his spell of 3/14 in 4 overs, was awarded Man of the Match, which he dedicated to his recently deceased parents. Sunrisers Hyderabad have opened the account in the points table with this victory while Delhi tasted their first defeat of the season.

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