Sunrisers Hyderabad leg spinner Rashid Khan celebrates the wicket of Rishabh Pant on Tuesday night. - BCCI/IPL
Dubai - Opener Bairstow scores half-century, while Rashid Khan snaps up three wickets as they win by 15 runs
Published: Tue 29 Sep 2020, 9:58 PM
Last updated: Wed 30 Sep 2020, 1:15 PM
Sunrisers Hyderabad finally got their IPL campaign off to a start by getting the better of Delhi Capitals in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday night.
In what was a clash between the early leaders and the bottom-placed side, Sunrisers Hyderabad eked out a 15-run victory at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Chasing a target of 163, Delhi Capitals managed to make 147-7 in their 20 overs as the Sunrisers Hyderabad notched their first win.
The architects of the victory were Jonny Bairstow, who scored his first IPL half-century, and leg spinner Rashid Khan, who snaffled three for 14. Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two for 25.
Englishman Bairstow made 53 from 48 deliveries with two boundaries and a six, while opening partner David Warner scored 45 from 33 balls which contained three boundaries and two sixes.
Kane Williamson, playing his first match of the season, added a bit of thrust to the Sunrisers innings with 41 from 26 deliveries that had five boundaries.
Earlier, Delhi Capitals skipper Shreyas Iyer called right at the toss and opted to have a bowl. Strike bowler Ishant Sharma was passed fit and replaced Avesh Khan for the Capitals, while Sunrisers Hyderabad made two changes, bringing in Kane Williamson for Mohammad Nabi, while Wriddhiman Saha made way for Abdul Samad.
Sunrisers Hyderabad again had a sedate start reaching 38 for no loss in the powerplay with Warner on 27 from 22 deliveries after having hit two boundaries and a six. Bairstow was a bit subdued with his nine coming from 14 balls.
But the Englishman finally struck a six of veteran leg spinner Amit MIshra in the next over to move to 18 from 17 deliveries while Warner had 32 from 25.
Warner was in sight of his first half-century this season and 45th in the IPL but the Australian fell five short. The southpaw, whose 44 fifties are the most in the IPL, went for a reverse sweep against Mishra but gloved it to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant. The Capitals asked for a review after it was not given and they were proven right.
Warner and Bairstow's opening stand was worth 77.
One-down batsman Manish Pandey joined Bairstow in the middle but the Karnataka batsman, who had top scored for his side in the loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders the other night, fell cheaply for three.
He was caught by Kagiso Rabada with Mishra getting his second wicket of the game.
Williamson then joined forces with Bairstow and the duo went on to add 52 for the third wicket. Bairstow reached his half-century by running a two off Rabada.
Williamson played a good hand to take the Sunrisers to that target.
Delhi Capitals didn't have a good beginning to the chase with opener Prithvi Shaw caught by wicketkeeper Bairstow off Bhuvneshwar Kumar off the fifth ball.
The other opener Shikhar Dhawan and Iyer then pulled them back with a 40-run partnership for the second wicket before the latter left after making a slow 17 from 21 balls.
Sunrisers Hyderabad kept it tight and tidy as Dhawan departed after making a 31-ball 34 with four boundaries.
Rishabh Pant scratched his way to eight from 15 balls with the Capitals 65 for three, needing 97 from 45 deliveries.
He earned a reprieve after Abhishek Sharma botched a return offering and the southpaw made the left-arm spinner pay by belting him for successive sixes in the 13th over to move from 20 off 18 balls.
Pant then became Rashid Khan's third victim after Iyer and Dhawan, perishing for a 27-ball 32.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 162-4 in 20 overs (Jonny Bairstow 53, David Warner 45, Kane Williamson 41, Kagiso Rabada 2-21, Amith Mishra 2-35) beat Delhi Capitals: 147-7 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 34, Rishabh Pant 32, Shimron Hetmyer 21, Rashid Khan 3-14, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-25) by 15 runs.
Teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Jonny Bairstow (wk), Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson, Priyam Garg, Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, T Natarajan.
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shreyas Iyer (C), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Anrich Nortje.
james@khaleejtimes.com
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