IPL: Hyderabad regain top spot after beating Delhi by 7 wickets

Till Shaw was taking on the bowlers, his skipper Shreyas Iyer (44 off 36 balls) played the second fiddle to perfection during their 86-run stand. But the solid foundation, skipper Kane Williamson’s calm influence and Yusuf Pathan’s pyrotechnics ensured the hosts reached 164 for three to complete a seven-wicket win.

Eyeing a challenging total for SRH have never chased more than 150 on home turf since 2015, the hosts got off to a steady start with openers Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan laying the early strong platform. Glenn Maxwell dropped Alex Hales in the second over while Vijay Shankar failed to hold on to Pathan’s catch when he had not scored a single run. From the school days, he was making headlines, scoring 500 runs and coming in a first class, scoring that debut 100 for Mumbai Ranji and then four consecutive 100s at first-class level. Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad will see another epic battle of Best vs Best today, 5th May, starting at 8:00 pm IST.

Hyderabad pace spearhead Bhuvneshwar Kumar heaped praise on his teammates after the crucial win saw them go No. 1 in the points table. And, in realizing 76 for the first wicket, the duo ensured it was the Sunrisers’ best opening partnership in five matches here in this edition of IPL.

But, as he has done so often Williamson kept his cool under tense conditions to lead his side home with a ball spare. He got off to a decent start and scored 21 off 17 deliveries. SRH’s bowlers who have been miserly upfront, were taken for 60 in the first six overs – the highest they’ve conceded all season so far.

Manish Pandey would reckon that this particular game against the Delhi Daredevils was yet another chance that went begging. Williamson ended the night with a score of 32 while Pathan has 27 runs to his name.

SRH now need 28 runs off the last 12 balls to win.

However, Shikhar Dhawan and Wriddhiman Saha have not given the required support to Hyderabad’s batting. Spinner Rashid Khan, pacers Siddharth Kaul and Sandeep Sharma, and spin all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, have been very effective. He continued to have a decent time with the ball in the match. He was looking good for a fifty before being bamboozled by Amit Mishra’s leg-spin for a well made 45 (31).

The Sunrisers continued their fine form as they defeated the Delhi Daredevils in a closely fought game. The Englishman looked good for a big score, but in the ninth overplayed down the wrong line to lose his off-stump to the leg-spinner Amit Mishra. Saha has been poor with the bat with just 79 runs from seven games while Dhawan has been a bit better with 152 runs from seven innings.