Delhi Capitals secured their second consecutive victory by beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven runs in Match 34 of TATA IPL 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
Delhi’s bowlers maintained a disciplined and collective effort, keeping the pressure on SRH, taking regular wickets, and defending their score of 144. Mukesh Kumar was the Impact Player, bowling a fantastic final over to defend 13 runs after Heinrich Klaasen and Washington Sundar had threatened to take the match from SRH.
David Warner, the captain of Delhi Capitals, decided to bat after winning the toss. SRH got off to a good start with pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking the wicket of Phil Salt in the third ball of the innings. Mitchell Marsh, who came in at 3, hit four fours off Marco Jansen’s second over, scoring 19 runs.
DC’s first six in the Powerplay this season was hit by David Warner in the fourth over. However, T Natarajan trapped Marsh LBW in his first over, after an excellent review by SRH. DC lost momentum and lost three wickets in the eighth over, including Warner and Sarfaraz Khan, as they reached 72/5 at the halfway mark.
Axar Patel and Manish Pandey then batted patiently to bring up DC’s 100 in the 15th over and then the 50-run partnership. Axar hit three consecutive fours off Mayank Markande in the 17th over, but Bhuvneshwar dismissed him with a yorker, breaking the 69-run partnership.
In the last over, SRH restricted DC to 144/9, thanks to brilliant bowling and fielding, including a couple of run-outs.
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In response to the target of 145, SRH got off to a steady start with Mayank Agarwal leading the way. However, the home team faced difficulties with DC’s disciplined bowling, scalping regular wickets, and maintaining a stranglehold on the innings.
Agarwal, who was the top scorer for SRH with 49 off 39, was sent back by Axar Patel, and Ishant Sharma removed Impact Player Rahul Tripathi caught behind. Abhishek Tripathi was caught and bowled by Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar then got a huge wicket as he made Aiden Markram drag one onto the stumps in the next over.
The required run rate kept increasing, and SRH required 51 runs off 24 balls. However, a late surge provided by Heinrich Klaasen and Washington Sundar threatened to take the match away from DC.
In the nail-biting final over, the responsibility of defending 13 runs in the last over was given to SRH’s Impact Player, Mukesh Kumar. The first ball was driven by Washington through the extra cover for a couple of runs, but Kumar quickly regained his composure and bowled an excellent yorker to earn a dot on the next ball.
With 11 runs needed off four balls, Washington managed to thump one to long on for just a single. Kumar continued his impressive form and bowled another good yorker, forcing Klassen to flick it to deep mid-wicket for just a single.
With 9 runs needed off 2 balls, the pressure was on Kumar to deliver, and he did not disappoint. He bowled a very full delivery, which Washington whipped to the deep mid-wicket fielder for just a single.
The last ball was another fantastic delivery, very full outside off, and Jansen could only manage to jam it to long off for a single as DC won the match by 7 runs. Despite a valiant effort from SRH, DC held their nerve in the crucial moments of the game to emerge victorious.
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