Abu Dhabi: Rashid Khan (3/14) bowled a brilliant spell to guide Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to their first win of this year’s IPL here, Tuesday. The David Warner-led side defeated Delhi Capitals by 15 runs.
Chasing a challenging 163, DC never looked like troubling SRH. SRH were reduced to 42/2 in 7.2 overs losing Prithvi Shaw (2) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (17). They failed to deal with a disciplined SRH bowling attack.
Shikhar Dhawan (34), Rishabh Pant (28) and Shimron Hetmyer (21) got starts but couldn’t capitalise bowling down to the pressure. At some point, Pant and Hetmyer gave DC some hope but they perished one after the other to end DC’s two-game winning run. DC finished their innings at 147/7.
Earlier, opener Jonny Bairstow (53, 48b, 2×4, 1×6) scored his second fifty of the tournament to help SRH post a competitive 162/4.
Bairstow shared two crucial partnerships – 77 off 57 balls with Warner (45, 33b, 3×4, 2×6) for the opening stand and 52 off 38 balls with Kane Williamson (41, 26b, 5×4) for the third wicket. Making his IPL debut, Jammu and Kashmir’s Abdul Samad (12 n o, 7b) blasted a four and six in his useful cameo.
Put into bat, Warner and Bairstow were circumspect with the pace trio of Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada (2/21) and Anrich Nortje (0/40) maintaining their line and length. The result was Sunrisers could only score 38 in the powerplay. Bairstow picked his first boundary in the seventh over off leg-spinner Amit Mishra (2/35).
The duo tried to make up for the lack of boundaries on the slow track with their excellent running between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Playing his first match of the season after recovering from an injury, Williamson smashed two fours in the 16th over to take SRH to 128 for two.
Bairstow reached his fifty off 44 balls before holding out to Nortje in the 18th over. Williamson too was dismissed in the last over.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 162/4 (Jonny Bairstow 53, David Warner 45, Kane Williamson 41; Kagiso Rabada 2/21, Amit Mishra 2/35) beat Delhi Capitals 147/7 (Shikhar Dhawan 34, Rishabh Pant 32; Rashid Khan 3/14, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/25) by 15 runs.