IPL 2021 - DC vs SRH - Delhi execute measured chase, smother Sunrisers by 8 wickets

Sunrisers Hyderabad on the brink of elimination after losing seven out of eight matches.

Delhi Capitals 139 for 2 (Iyer 47*, Dhawan 42, Pant 35*) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 134 for 9 (Samad 28, Rashid 22, Rabada 3/37, Nortje 2/12) by eight wickets

Rabada, Nortje and batters help Delhi Capitals reclaim top spot. (Image: BCCI/IPL)

Delhi Capitals (DC) faced Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in match number 33 of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.

The Dubai surface has shown some assistance for the seamers early on. Pace did play a decisive role with Kagiso Rabada taking 3/37 and Player-of-the-match Anrich Nortje taking 2/12 for Delhi and debilitating the Sunrisers batters to a paltry score of 134/9 in the first innings.

Sunrisers won the toss and opted to bat

Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat first. For Delhi, Ravichandran Ashwin came in place of the other off-spinner Lalit Yadav while on the other hand, the West Indian Jason Holder replaced Johnny Bairstow in the Hyderabad squad.

While batting, SRH were only able to score 134 runs in their 20 overs. David Warner’s poor form continued in the second phase of IPL 2021. He got dismissed on the third ball of the first over bowled by Anrich Nortje. The Sunrisers skipper Kane Williamson also failed to score runs in this match. In the span of 4 balls, he gave three chances to the opposition to get him dismissed, although Delhi were not successful in plucking him out. But on the fifth ball, he got dismissed by Axar Patel and was not able to make use of the three chances that he was given by the Capitals fielders.

Abdul Samad and Rashid Khan came on the crease after half their side was back into the pavilion. Samad and Rashid scored important 28 runs and 22 runs respectively which included two fours and a six each. These cameos helped SRH to set a meagre target of 135 runs for DC in 20 overs.

The South African pace duo of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada demolished Hyderabad’s top and middle-order with sheer pace and bounce. Rabada took three wickets and conceded 37 runs in his spell of four overs. Anrich Nortje and Axar Patel also took two wickets each conceding just 12 and 21 runs respectively in their spells of four overs each. Avesh Khan didn’t take a wicket but he was very economical in his four overs spell with figures of 4-0-27-0.

DC execute a perfect chase; Gabbar reclaims Orange Cap

While chasing a small target of 135 runs in 20 overs, DC were able to run it down on the last ball of the 18th over with eight wickets remaining. Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and skipper Rishabh Pant’s knock helped Delhi to chase the target.

Iyer and Pant scored unbeaten 47 runs from 41 balls and 35 runs from 21 balls respectively. Shikhar Dhawan also scored 42 runs from 37 balls which included six fours and a six. With this innings, he reclaimed the Orange Cap from Punjab Kings skipper KL Rahul. Shikhar has now scored 422 runs in nine innings he has played so far in the IPL 2021 so far. India’s selectors need a lot of answering to do as to why the opener is not in the T20 World Cup squad for India.

While defending the target of 134 runs, Sunrisers didn’t bowl according to the plans and were also very sloppy in the field. They were only able to take two wickets in their 18 overs of bowling. Left-arm medium pacer Khaleel Ahmad and Afghanistan’s leg spinner Rashid Khan were the bowlers who took the wickets of Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan respectively.

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Captain’s Corner

“We didn't start well, didn't register a decent partnership but never got any momentum, some good scores in the back-end, but pretty much 25-30 runs short. We did bowl well, we have defended modest scores in the past, but it wasn't to be today which was a bit of a shame,” said Kane Williamson, the losing captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad, at the post-match presentation.

“It's been a difficult campaign so far, but we need to enjoy our cricket and don't put ourselves under pressure - they were excellent, they are both quality internationals, two of the best fast bowlers going around at the moment and they put us under pressure. They got us into hard positions, perhaps if we hadn't lost early wickets, we could have done differently, but Delhi were outstanding and played some smart cricket,” he added.

The winning captain of Delhi Capitals, Rishabh Pant said, “We discussed that we had a good first phase, and we are happy to start the second phase this way. We said the same thing about focusing on the process and giving it 100 per cent every day.”

Player-of-the match Anrich Nortje said, “Missing out in the first half was disappointing. It was good to have a good start to the tournament for me. Looking at the first game here, it was good to see some grass and then yesterday's big score - I didn't know what to expect.”

The result of the match has taken Delhi Capitals back to the top of the points table with 14 points from nine matches and pushed Sunrisers Hyderabad further into oblivion with a paltry two points from eight appearances in the marquee league.

Traditional rivals Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders will face off at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on September 23. The match kicks off at 19:30 hours IST.

Twitter Reactions as Delhi Capitals beat SRH

Delhi Capitals defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets and reclaim the top spot in the points table. There have been mixed reactions by people showed for both the teams on twitter. Here are some of the finest twitter reactions for DCvsSRH:

Playing XI DC vs SRH

Sunrisers Hyderabad Playing XI - David Warner, Wriddhiman Saha (w), Kane Williamson (c), Manish Pandey, Jason Holder, Abdul Samad, Kedar Jadhav, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Sandeep Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed.

Delhi Capitals Playing XI - Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk & c), Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan

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