IPL 2020: Bowlers Shine As SRH Beas DC To Register Their First Win

The match promised to be a slow burner in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday as both SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Delhi Capitals (DC) played the waiting game initially and then tried to go big at the death, in line with the template set over the past two games in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. 

However, DC tapered off at the end as they lost Rishabh Pant (28) and Marcus Stoinis (11) in the last four overs and failed to chase down SRH's 162/4. They finished 147/7 and fell short by 15 runs. SRH registered their first win after losing their first two matches by stopping DC's unbeaten two-match run in the tournament.

SRH were 36/0 at the end of the Powerplay in comparison to DC's 34/1 as both teams tried to accelerate as the innings went on with varying degrees of success.

While David Warner (45) and Jonny Bairstow (53) took calculated risks in the first 10 overs and Kane Williamson (41) threatened to tee off at the death, none of them could stay on till the end and finish the innings.

For DC, Shreyas Iyer (17) and Shikhar Dhawan (34) tried to revive the innings after they lost Prithvi Shaw (2) to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first over.

Rashid Khan sent back both Iyer and Dhawan in the middle overs and then took the crucial wicket of Rishabh Pant, who had just hit two sixes off Abhishek Sharma and was threatening to tee off, in the 17th.

T Natarajan nailed a yorker that caught Stoinis in front of the wicket in the next over as DC ran out of batsmen and flattened out towards the end of the chase.

It was an all-round performance by the SRH bowlers as Rashid returned 3/14 while Bhuvneshwar got 2/25. Khaleel Ahmed, Natarajan and Abhishek got a wicket apiece.

Earlier, DC won the toss and put SRH in to bat and Warner and his fellow opener Bairstow decided to play the long haul instead of going for their shots from the word go as they stitched a 77-run opening partnership in the first 10 overs.

Amit Mishra struck for DC, sending back Warner and No. 3 Manish Pandey (3) in his first two overs. That brought Kane Williamson to the crease who made his first appearance for SRH this season.

From overs 12 to 15, SRH crawled from 94 to 117 as Williamson and Bairstow played the waiting game as well, trying to set a platform to launch themselves from in the death.

Williamson went first, hitting Anrich Nortje for two fours in the 16th and then Stoinis for two more in the next.

Bairstow brought up his 50 off 44 balls in the 18th but was dismissed in the same over by Rabada.

Debutant Abdul Samad (12 not out) arrived and hit Nortje for a streaky boundary and an imposing six in the penultimate over, but Rabada bowled an excellent 20th, giving away just four runs, as SRH failed to gather steam at the death.

DC were choked towards the second half of the innings after Shimron Hetmyer (21) holed out to Manish off Bhuvneshwar in the 16th over after having added 42 for the fourth wicket with Pant.

That was the starting point of a mini-collapse as DC lost 4/43 in the last five and gave away the contest.

Ishant Sharma, returning for DC after injury and playing his first IPL 2020 match, went wicketless while Rabada and Mishra got two wickets each.