David Warner and Rovman Powell, both unbeaten, put in a scintillating display of power hitting at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday night. At the receiving end were Sunrisers Hyderabad’s bowlers, who conceded 207 runs. After that, Nicholas Pooran gave it his absolute all with smashing half-century but did not have the support he needed as SRH fell 21 runs short on the day.
For DC, Khaleel Ahmed picked 3 wickets and Kuldeep picked one wicket while Shardul bagged 2.
Batting first, the Delhi Capitals were eyeing a good start with David Warner up against SRH. However, they lost Mandeep Singh in the first over with 0 on the board, caught by Nicholas Pooran off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Australian Mitchell Marsh added 10 to the cause and was packed off by Sean Abbott, before Rishabh Pant and Warner joined hands. The duo steadied the ship and took DC to 50/2 in six overs. Right after the powerplay, the duo started to cut loose Aiden Markram and Shreyas Gopal were taken to the cleaners with the batters dealing in boundaries. Gopal though had the last laugh against Pant, going through his defenses and knocking him over for 26.
Pant and Warner put on 48 runs together before the big hitting Rovman Powell walked in and kept feeding the Australian opener the strike. Warner clubbed Malik away to the fence to get to his half century in the 12th, and was looking to go through gears in the second half of the innings.
Warner was in full flow against his old team, crunching the bowlers through the off side and not thinking twice about going over the top down the ground, or over short-fine leg as DC reached 135/3 with 6 overs to go.
Malik bounced back with a 2-run over where Williamson dropped Powell as well, after which the batter smashed Bhuvi for a six in a 10-run over. Powell gave Abbott some special treatment too, hitting him for consecutive sixes, setting up the platform for a 200-run finish. Warner at the other end too was finding the boundaries regularly, and had a century in sight.
Warner wasn’t about to let this chance go, bringing out the reverse hit and a flurry of boundaries against Bhuvi in the 19th, the third of which also brought up the century for the partnership. Powell then brought up his fifty with a monster hit off Malik, and then finished off with three more boundaries as DC got to 207/3. Warner was unbeaten on 92 off 58 and Powell was 67 not out from 35 balls.
In response, the SRH side got off to a horror start as in-form openers Abhishek Sharma and Kane Williamson were both dismissed cheaply. Khaleel Ahmed sent Sharma back to the hut for 7 while Anrich Nortje accounted for the SRH skipper for 4.
Aiden Markram and Rahul Tripathi had the job to rebuild for SRH, who were chasing a stiff target, and took the side to 35/2 at the end of the powerplay.
Right after though, Tripathi was walking back to the pavilion, as Mitchell Marsh struck. Tripathi was gone for 22, which added more pressure on SRH, who now had the talented Nicholas Pooran walking in.
From the seventh over, Pooran and Markram dug in, steadied the ship, before a series of big overs at the half way stage. Markram specially went through the gears ad Kuldeep and Marsh took a hammering. After 12 overs, SRH were 90/3.
In the next over, Pooran struck Khaleel on the shoulder with a powerful shot while the bowler was on his follow through, but he bounced back with a wicket. Just as the partnership was becoming dangerous for Delhi, Khaleel had Markram caught by Kuldeep for 42 off 25 deliveries. Markram and Pooran had added 60 off 35 balls.
Shashank Singh walked in and started off with a boundary and then kept feeding Pooran the strike. The southpaw, SRH’s biggest hope at the time in the game, was looking to pummel the bowling to all parts of the ground.
Pooran attacked Nortje and Shardul, taking 28 off the South African’s last two overs while Shardul went for 17 in between. Very quickly, the boundary counters were working overtime again and SRH needed 62 from the final 4 overs. Shardul though dismissed Shashank for 10.
Khaleel struck again, picking his third wicket when Sean Abbott was dismissed for 7 trying to swing wildly. Pooran meanwhile had just completed his half-century and was seemingly fighting a losing battle.
Pooran added 12 more after completing his fifty and finished with 62, looking to clear the ropes in the 18th over. Pooran smashed 6 sixes and 2 fours before becoming Shardul’s second wicket. He tried to hit a full toss into the stands but did not connect well enough and was caught in the deep by Powell, which all but put the seal on a win for DC.
Marsh and Kuldeep completed proceedings as DC registered a 21-run win with the spinner picking his first wicket in the final over.
The win took Delhi Capitals to 10 points from 10 matches and maintained their hopes of making it to the playoffs as they trail Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore (both with 12 points) at fifth spot. SRH are at sixth spot with 10 points but an inferior net run rate.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 207/3 in 20 overs (David Warner 92 not out, Rishabh Pant 26, Rovman Powell 67 not out; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/25) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 186/8 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 62, Aiden Markram 42, Rahul Tripathi 22; Khaleel Ahmed 3/30, Shardul Thakur 2/44).
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