First Super-Over Finish of VIVO IPL 2021!

Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a Super-Over thriller in Match 20 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Prithvi Shaw and Kane Williamson top-scored for their respective sides but the contest turned out to be a nail-biter and it was DC, who eventually emerged victorious in a close contest.

Chasing a target of 160, SRH openers – David Warner and Jonny Bairstow – got off to a watchful start, scoring 10 in the first two overs. 

Bairstow got going and smacked a four and six each off Marcus Stoinis and then clubbed Ashwin for a maximum. However, SRH lost their skipper after he was run-out at the striker’s end in the fourth over.

Bairstow continued to take on the DC spinners and added a six and a four to his count, scoring 11 runs off the 5th over, bowled by Axar Patel.

Williamson, who had joined Bairstow in the middle after Warner’s dismissal, was up and away with two fours as well. Bairstow attacked Avesh Khan’s pace and launched it out of the ground but was dismissed on the very next ball after hitting the ball straight to Dhawan at mid-on and SRH ended the powerplay with a total of 56/2.

Virat Singh joined Williamson as SRH added only 8 runs in the next two overs, courtesy some tight bowling from DC spinners – Ashwin and Mishra.

Williamson eased off some pressure and scored consecutive fours off Mishra, with required run-rate rising up. The right-hander then hit Ashwin for a four with a well-executed reverse-sweep but Virat Singh was struggling on the other end, with SRH 80/2 at the 10-over mark.

Virat Singh’s time at the crease was put to end after Avesh scalped his second wicket of the innings, thanks to a wonderful catch by Stoinis at mid-wicket.

Kedar Jadhav and Williamson added two more fours to the boundary count but Mishra cleverly deceived Jadhav with flight and scalped a timely wicket for DC. 

The pressure was building on SRH as they required 43 off the final four overs and Axar struck twice in consecutive deliveries. Both – Abhishek Sharma and Rashid Khan – were trapped in front in the 17th over.

Vijay Shankar and the well-settled Williamson added 11 runs off Mishra’s over, with SRH requiring 28 runs off the final two.

Avesh Khan bowled the penultimate over and castled Shankar’s stumps to pick his third wicket before J Suchith smashed a six and four off the final two balls of the over. 

With 16 runs required off the final over, Suchith came to the rescue for SRH and hit Rabada for a four and a six in a thrilling finish to the game. With 2 required off the final delivery, the match was tied and went to a Super Over.

DC went ahead with Axar Patel in the Super Over against Warner and Williamson. SRH only hit one four and set a target of 8 runs after a short-run from Warner on the last delivery.

SRH chose Rashid Khan to defend 8 runs against Dhawan and Pant. The DC skipper reverse swept Rashid for a crucial four on the third delivery. With one run required off the final ball, DC squeezed in a tight run and beat SRH in the Super Over.

Earlier, DC opted to bat first and made one change – Axar Patel replaced Lalit Yadav in the eleven. Shaw started the innings in style, scoring a hat-trick of fours on the first three balls of the innings against Khaleel Ahmed.

The second over was no different after Abhishek Sharma conceded 14 runs that included three fours and Dhawan was off the mark. Shaw then attacked Siddarth Kaul’s pace and scored the first maximum of the innings.

The DC openers kept the momentum going and brought their fifty partnership up for the opening wicket as DC were 51/0 at the end of powerplay.

SRH bowled a couple of quiet overs after the powerplay but Dhawan was back on the attack after scoring consecutive fours consecutive boundaries of Suchith, who was playing his first game for SRH.

SRH brought Rashid to the attack as they were searching for the opening wicket but Shaw backed his confidence and smashed the leg-spinner over extra-cover for a four as he notched up his half-century in the 10th over, with DC 81/0.

SRH finally found the breakthrough after Rashid castled Dhawan’s stumps with a quicker one. Shaw was on his way too, in the next over after the right-hander was run-out on the non-striker's end due to confusion with his partner and the DC skipper, Rishabh Pant.

Steve Smith and Pant built a steady partnership in the second half of the innings and kept the boundaries flowing off the bat. While Pant was playing the aggressor role, Smith was smartly rotating the strike, giving the DC skipper a majority of time in the middle.

Pant smacked a six over long-on and then creamed consecutive boundaries off Rashid Khan as DC were 127 with four overs to go.

The duo added 11 runs off the 18th over by Khaleel Ahmed, hitting two fours to the left-arm seamer but the DC skipper was on his way in the next over after the left-hander holed out into the deep off Kaul, who bowled a slower delivery.

Shimron Hetmyer got out in similar fashion in the same over but Smith smashed 14 runs off the final over off Khaleel Ahmed, with a four and a six each and powered DC to a total of 159/4.

Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 159/4 (Prithvi Shaw 53, Rishabh Pant 37; Siddarth Kaul 2/31) tied Sunrisers Hyderabad 159/7 (Kane Williamson 66*, Jonny Bairstow 38; Avesh Khan 3/34)

Super Over:

Delhi Capitals 8/0 beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 7/0