Match Recap

Sunrisers Hyderabad climbed to the top of VIVO IPL 2019 standings after they defeated Delhi Capitals by 5 wickets on Thursday night. After opting to bowl first at the Feroze Shah Kotla, the Sunrisers restricted the hosts Delhi Capitals to 129 for 8 and then chased down the runs in 18.3 overs.

Batting first, the Delhi Capitals got off to a poor start - losing Prithvi Shaw to a cross-batted heave against Bhuvneshwar Kumar that saw his off stump pegged back. Shikhar Dhawan (12) and Rishabh Pant (5) too were dismissed cheaply, falling to the off-spin of Mohammad Nabi. Captain Shreyas Iyer top-scored for the Delhi Capitals with 43, while Axar Patel took the team to a respectable total with a quickfire 23 not out from 13 balls. The Delhi Capitals were 36-2 at the end of the powerplay phase, added 49-3 in the middle nine overs, and finished with a flourish adding 44-3 in the final five overs.

For Sunrisers Hyderabad, all the five bowlers used got amongst the wickets. Mohammad Nabi was the pick of the bowlers, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar bagged his first wickets of the season. Siddarth Kaul (2-35), Rashid Khan (1-18) and Sandeep Sharma (1-25) were among the wickets too.

In reply, Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to a brisk start with Jonny Bairstow and David Warner adding 64 for the first wicket. Bairstow was the aggressive of the two opening batsmen, scoring 48 from 29 balls before he was dismissed LBW by Rahul Tewatia. Even though the Sunrisers lost a few wickets in quick succession thereafter, Bairstow's cameo at the top gave the rest of the batsmen time to play themselves in. Sunrisers eventually knocked off the runs in the penultimate over, crossing the line with five wickets in hand. Mohammad Nabi finished off the chase, scoring a boundary and a six off Kagiso Rabada in the nineteenth over.

Standout batting performance

In a low scoring game, the one knock that stood out was that of Jonny Bairstow. The Sunrisers Hyderabad opener scored 48 from 28 balls, hitting nine boundaries and a six, and dominated an opening stand of 64. The Englishman, who was given a reprieve on 5, was fluent down the ground and collected five boundaries and a six in the region. He was comfortable against both pace and spin and looked like he’d run away with the game when, against the run of play, he was dismissed LBW by the leg spin of Rahul Tewatia.

Standout Bowling performance

Mohammad Nabi once again proved why he is such a dangerous bowler when bowling to the left-handers. The Sunrisers off-spinner, who was handed the new ball at the other end, dismissed the most-experienced batsman in the Delhi Capitals line-up – Shikhar Dhawan, and then consumed the dangerous Rishabh Pant too. He finished with outstanding figures of 4-0-21-2.

Brief Scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad 131-5 in 18.3 overs (Jonny Bairstow 48) beat Delhi Capitals: 129-8 (Shreyas Iyer 43, Mohammad Nabi 2-21) by 5 wickets.

Man of the Match:

Jonny Bairstow, for his 28-ball 48.