Sunrisers Hyderabad steal victory over Delhi Daredevils

Pietersen’s presence fails to lift struggling Delhi Daredevils as they lost third match

Aaron Finch of Sunrisers Hyderabad plays a shot against Delhi Daredevils during the Pepsi IPL 2014 in Dubai on Friday. — KT photo by Shihab

Kevin Pietersen, who missed two games due to a finger injury, finally played for Delhi Daredevils but his return couldn’t help change their fortunes as they went down to Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs in a Pepsi IPL 2014 match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Pietersen hit 16 off 17 balls, but Dale Steyn changed the complexion of the game in the 17^th over by picking up two wickets from his consecutive deliveries.

Steyn first dismissed Dinesh Karthik who was caught at the deep mid-wicket by Lokesh Rahul. Pietersen departed the very next ball, giving an easy catch to Darren Sammy. Delhi, who chased 185 for victory, were restricted to 180 for four in 20 overs, handing Sunrisers their first win in the seventh season.

Needing 20 runs from the last over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, JP Duminy, who remained not out on 20 off seven balls, and Manoj Tiwary, who hit 23 off 13, managed 15 runs.

Delhi began their chase in a convincing fashion with openers Murali Vijay and Quinton de Kock adding 99 runs for the first wicket from 11.2 overs.

De Kock, who made a 30-ball 48, was the first to go when he attempted a slog sweep but was taken in the deep by Finch in Karn Sharma’s third over.

Vijay departed the very next over when he connected a Darren Sammy-delivery straight into the hands of Steyn at long-on. Vijay smashed seven boundaries and one six in his entertaining knock of 52 off 40 balls.

The fall of two quick wickets hurt Delhi’s cause as the new batsmen Pietersen and Karthik took time to settle down. Steyn finished with 2-33 from his four overs, while Sharma was impressive again with 1-23 from four.

Earlier, an unbeaten 128-run second wicket partnership between Australian batsmen Aaron Finch and David Warner helped Sunrisers post their highest ever total in IPL. Opener Finch remained not out on 88 off 53 balls with eight boundaries and four sixes and guided Sunrisers to 184 for one in 20 overs. Warner gave Finch good company by hitting an unbeaten 58 off 45 balls with three fours and three sixes.

Finch, who won the man of the match award, said: “It’s a nice, slow start to the tournament. We remained positive and in this kind of format… when we get on a winning streak it can last. The wicket we knew would be hard for the new batters and we made a conscious effort to bat long. It’s T20, you can’t win them all… as long as we can win them when it counts we’re happy.”

Pietersen said: “It’s a great game of cricket. Quinny and Vijay started well but credit to Finchy, he played fantastically and Warner also chipped in.” Sunrisers, who struggled with their batting in previous games, were given a good start by Finch and skipper Shikar Dhawan, as they added 56 runs from 6.2 overs. But Dhawan departed in the seventh over when he top edged a Shahbaz Nadeem-delivery down the leg side to Pietersen.

Dhawan made 33 off 22 balls with five fours and one six. The 28-year old left-hand batsman got a lucky break when Tiwary dropped him at point in Wayne Parnell’s second over. Dhawan had hit Parnell for two fours and one six in the first three deliveries of the same over but Tiwary couldn’t hold on to a simple chance.

Finch hammered Jaydev Unadkat for 18 runs in just four deliveries of the 18^th over, which yielded 21 in all. Unadkat was the most expensive Delhi bowler, conceding 43 runs in his four overs.

Pacer Mohammed Shami finished with figures of 0/36 from his four overs, while spinner Nadeem was impressive, ending at 1-24 from four.

pradeep@khaleejtimes.com