A young Delhi Daredevils line-up caused a huge upset in the VIVO IPL 2017 when they defeated defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets on Tuesday night. Given to chase 186, the Delhi Daredevils top-order came out firing, got their team off to a blazing start, before the middle order completed the job. DD got across the finish line in the 20th over, and as a result lifted themselves from the floor of the tournament standings.
Karun Nair and Sanju Samson played out Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first over watchfully. But first ball of the second over, Samson dismissed Mohammed Siraj over the ropes at long-on to set the wheels rolling. Karun joined in when he drove over covers to collect his first boundary. In the third over, Samson collected two boundaries off Bhuvneshwar, while Karun hit Siddarth Kaul for a six and a four in the fourth over.
The opening partnership was broken at the start of the fifth over when Samson (24 from 19 balls) didn’t pick a slower delivery from Siraj and holed out to ShikharDhawan on the cover boundary. Karun continued to be aggressive, as he collected a cover drive boundary off Siraj and then feasted on Moises Henriques – hitting the Australian for two fours and a six in the sixth over. DD 62-1 after six overs.
Karun perished in the eighth over; DD’s stand-in captain had made 39 from 20 balls, aided with five boundaries and two sixes. Rishabh Pant (34 from 20 balls) and ShreyasIyer added 37 runs in the next four overs and helped keep a check on the required run-rate before the former was cleaned up by a yorker from Siraj. Shreyas carried on to make 33, before he attempted to be cheeky and his upper cut landed down the throat of short thirdman.
Corey Anderson, who walked out to bat at number five, turned up the heat at the business end, striking three massive sixes, and ensured there were no further twists in the chase. Anderson struck the winning runs and finished on 41, and he had the company of Chris Morris (15 not out from 7 balls) on the walk back to the dressing room after the job was accomplished.
Rashid Khan (4-0-24-0) was SRH’s best bowler, while Siraj (2-41), Kaul (1-38) and Bhuvneshwar (1-33) accounted for the four wickets. The fifth bowler’s quota of overs – shared between Henriques and Yuvraj – cost SRH 52 runs in 3.1 overs.
Earlier in the evening, the SRH opening pair of David Warner (30 from 21 balls) and ShikharDhawan yet again provided their team with a solid start; the pair added in excess of 50 before the former was cleaned up by a toe-crusher from Mohammad Shami.
Dhawan (28 from 17 balls) showed plenty of urgency at the start before he top-edged Amit Mishra’s second delivery and was caught at the square-leg boundary. Shami returned a couple of quiet overs later, and forced Kane Williamson into top-edging a pull shot. SRH 92-3 after 11.4 overs.
Yuvraj Singh and Moises Henriques got together at that stage and stitched together SRH’s best fourth wicket partnership; the pair added 93 runs in 8.2 overs, the bulk of the runs coming from Yuvraj’s willow. It was a calculated innings from the left-hander – who had only made 55 runs in his last six innings; he started off slowly, saw off the most threatening bowler of the night (Amit Mishra), and feasted on the rest of the bowlers. The left-hander didn’t have to hit the ball hard; the bat came down sweetly, the bat swing was smooth, and the ball made contact with the sweet spot of the bat on most occasions. And on the one rare occasion he didn’t middle the ball, the DD fielders let him off; Yuvraj was on 29 from 26 balls when he miscued a quick bouncer from Chris Morris, but Sanju Samson made a meal of a regulation catch at the square-leg boundary.
Yuvrajcashed in on DD’s largesse; in the eighteenth over – bowled by Kagiso Rabada – he collected a boundary (top-edged pull) and followed it with his trademark swing off the pads. In the following over, he collected consecutive boundaries off Chris Morris – the second one bringing up his half-century. In the final over, Yuvraj found the boundary four times – first ball drive to the cover boundary, third ball whip off the pads to the square-leg boundary, fifth ball outside edge to the thirdman fence, and a rocket lofted-straight-drive to complete the innings. He finished unbeaten on 70 (41 balls, 11 fours, 1 six) – his highest score while representing Sunrisers Hyderabad. Post his let-off, Yuvraj had added 41 runs from 15 balls.
Henriques made a useful contribution at the other end; the Australian made 25 from 18 balls. SRH had added 52 runs in the final three overs, and eventually finished at 185-3.
For the home side, Shami (2-36) and Mishra (1-23) were the wicket-takers, while Jayant Yadav only conceded 26 runs in his four overs. Rabada had a forgettable day on the field, conceding 59 runs in his four overs – the most he had conceded in a T20 match.
Brief Scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 185-3 (Yuvraj Singh 70*, David Warner 30, Mohammed Shami 2-36) lost to Delhi Daredevils: 189-4 in 19.1 overs (Corey Anderson 41*, Karun Nair 39, Rishabh Pant 34, ShreyasIyer 33, Mohammed Siraj2-41) by 5 wickets.
Man of the Match: Corey Anderson
