Dubai: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) recorded a mammoth 88-run win over Delhi Capitals (DC) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday, and remained in contention for a place in the play-offs.
In response to 219/2, DC were blown away for 131 and succumbed to their third consecutive defeat of the season. DC slipped to the third place on net run rate, though they are equal on points with toppers Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore with 14 points. SRH moved up to sixth spot with 10 points from 12 games.
Sandeep Sharma dismissed the in-form Shikhar Dhawan for a first-ball duck in the first over after which Marcus Stoinis, sent in at No.3, fell to Shahbaz Nadeem in the next at the Dubai International Stadium. Rashid Khan then came in for the first over after the powerplay and took the wicket of Shimron Hetmyer off his very first ball.
Rashid played a crucial role in ending any chances of allowing DC to put up a challenge in their innings, returning figures of 3/7 in his four overs.
Earlier, Wriddhiman Saha stamped his class with a 45-ball 87 while captain David Warner hit a quick-fire half-century as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a mammoth 219/2.
Warner (66), who looked in great nick, and Saha, playing his second game of the season, laid the base for Sunrisers' huge total, the highest score in Dubai this season, while Manish Pandey (44 not out off 31balls) provided the final flourish in the team's must-win game.
Sent in to bat, both Warner and Saha went after the Delhi bowlers from the word go. Fully capitalising on the field restrictions, the duo smashed boundaries (11 fours and two sixes) every over to collect 77 run in the first six overs, the best powerplay figures of the season.
In the sixth over, Warner smashed the tournament's leading wicket-taker Kagiso Rabada (0/54) for four boundaries and a six, helping the Sunrisers reach 100 runs in just 8.4 overs.
Till Warner was taking on the bowlers, Saha played the second fiddle to perfection. Warner celebrated his 34th birthday with a half-century off just 25 balls, hitting two sixes and eight fours.
To Delhi's relief Ravichandran Ashwin (1/35) broke the 107-run opening stand in the 10th over as he dismissed dangerman Warner, who was caught at extra cover by Axar Patel.
With Warner gone, Saha hammered the Capitals bowlers all around the park. The wicketkeeper-batsman reached his fifty in style with a boundary. He plundered 12 fours and two sixes before pacer Anrich Nortje (1/37) dismissed him in the 15th over.
Pandey and Kane Williamsion (11 not out) continued the assault on a listless Delhi bowling unit.
