HYDERABAD, MAY 13 :Delhi Daredevils were without captain Zaheer Khan who missed his second game of the season because of a niggle. Chris Morris stepped up and unfurled cutters, fast yorkers, slower yorkers, and bouncers. Amit Mishra tested Sunrisers Hyderabad with googlies and claimed two wickets, both with seam-up balls, clocked at over 110kph. Nathan Coulter-Nile, playing his second game of the season, impressed in the end overs as the bowlers triggered Sunrisers’ disintegration, after a fast start from David Warner. From 80 for 1 after ten overs, Sunrisers finished with 146 for 8. Warner later said that they were 20-30 runs short.
Quinton de Kock took charge of the chase. His cuts and pick-up shots flew off his bat. He looked in control until he was given out caught behind by umpire Marais Erasmus after a prolonged appeal. De Kock slashed at a short, wide ball and his helmet fell onto the ground as he completed his stroke, but Ultra Edge indicated there was no bat involved. When he was dismissed for a 31-ball 44, Daredevils needed 69 off 61 balls and Mustafizur Rahman had three overs left. Sunrisers believed but Sanju Samson and teenager Rishabh Pant showed nous to end Sunrisers’ four-match winning streak.
Daredevils’ stand-in captain JP Duminy credited the “collective bowling effort” for the side’s sixth win in ten games. Mishra was introduced into the attack in the 11th over, after offspinner Jayant Yadav completed a tidy spell. Jayant gave the ball plenty of air in his three Powerplay overs. His reward, though, came off a quicker ball when Warner backed away outside leg, played inside the line, and had his leg stump pegged back for 46 off 30 balls. Mishra cranked up his pace in his second over, ending Dhawan’s sedate 34 with a 114kph seam-up ball. The variation accounted for Yuvraj Singh as well, as a leading edge carried to short fine leg. The shaky middle order was exposed.
Mohammed Shami made another dent when he pinned Moises Henriques lbw for a duck. The ball wasn’t coming onto the bat and stroke-making was difficult. Kane Williamson aimed to force the pace before he was bowled by an inswinging Morris full toss for 27 off 24 balls. The fast bowler capped his spell by kicking an inside edge, that rolled back up the pitch, onto the stumps to effect the run out of Bhuvneshwar Kumar for 1. Deepak Hooda stepped on his stumps off the bowling of Coulter-Nile in the 19th over. Naman Ojha was caught at square leg off a full toss in the last over. This meant that Daredevils picked up five wickets in the last five overs for 33.
The returning Mayank Agarwal began brightly with a lofted drive over mid-on for four. The opener was undone by the slowness of the pitch when he sliced Ashish Nehra to extra cover in the fourth over. An unfazed de Kock cracked Nehra for back-to-back boundaries in the same over before cutting Mustafizur for four in the sixth over. De Kock’s blows meant that Daredevils closed the Powerplay at 50 for 1.
Henriques, however, dismissed Karun Nair and de Kock in the tenth over to tighten the chase. Samson and Pant steered Daredevils home with an unbroken 72-run stand off 50 balls. Pant, in particular, was aggressive against Mustafizur - first launching him over long-on for six and three balls later, whipping him for four past midwicket.
Pant plundered 26 off Mustafizur from 13 balls, the most by any batsman against the left-arm seamer in a T20. Samson sealed the chase with a pulled six, and the night ended with Nehra warmly embracing Pant.