All credit to Delhi Capitals for the brilliant rally in the middle overs that helped them restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 137/6.
With new batters struggling to come to terms with the pace of the wicket at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, it was imperative for the settled batters to force the pace. But as the boundaries dried up, with the Delhi spin duo of Axar Patel (2/21) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/22) keeping the SRH batters on a tight leash, the second-wicket pair of Mayank Agarwal and Rahul Tripathi found a big over hard to come by.
Agarwal, back at the top of the innings, looked in control during his 49 (39b, 4×7) as Sunrisers made slow progress after losing Harry Brook cheaply. Tripathi was the impact player for SRH – in place of Natarajan – but his dismissal saw the hosts lose two more quick wickets as Abhishek Sharma and skipper Aiden Markram succumbed to the spinners.
The game was in the balance as the Sunrisers needed 88 runs in the last 10 overs. Delhi gained the most in overs 11-15 when the hosts scored 31 and lost four wickets.
It was left to Heinrich Klaasen to raise the tempo as he took on countryman Ainrich Nortje in the 17th over. He played his part, but Nortje (2/33) had the last laugh, and it came down to 13 from the last over.
Mukesh Kumar held his nerve to make an impact and Washington Sundar’s unbeaten 24 failed to complement his excellent effort with the ball. The second over by Washington (3/28) – after he conceded 13 in his first over bowled inside the powerplay taken at 49/2 – put the brakes on Delhi Capitals and but for a 69-run stand for the sixth wicket between Manish Pandey (34; 27b, 4×2) and Axar Patel (34; 34b, 4×4), they would have had much less than the 144/9 they posted.
With some protection in the field on offer, the off-spinner came into his own in the second over and got rid of David Warner, Sarfaraz Khan and Aman Khan.
Watch SRH vs DC IPL 2023 Highlights: Delhi record second successive victory
