Sunrisers Hyderabad inches closer to play-off berth

Openers Alex Hales (45) and Shikhar Dhawan (33) stitched a 76-run first-wicket stand to put the home side in a comfortable position. Yusuf Pathan (27*) and captain Kane Williamson (32*) finished it off for SRH with a ball to spare. 

Showcasing its bowling might for the umpteenth time, host Sunrisers Hyderabad regrouped after an early blitzkrieg to restrict Delhi Daredevils to 163 for five.   

Delhi won the toss and chose to bat on a placid wicket. India U-19 WC winning captain Prithvi Shaw hit the ground running in a trice as he smacked Sandeep Sharma for a huge six over long-on in the second over to set the tone for a racy start. 

Glenn Maxwell, promoted to open the innings, was unlucky to be run out as the ball ricocheted off Sharma’s fingers and rolled on to the stumps with Maxwell out of the crease. Spin was introduced early and Shaw wasn’t perturbed as he smote Shakib Al Hasan over covers for his second six. 

Sandeep, known to be frugal, erred in his line by dropping the ball too short and with him not operating at express pace, Shaw was barely troubled. Even the impressive Siddharth Kaul wasn’t spared as he conceded 20 runs in his first over. 

The first 10 overs belonged to the visiting team but in the next set of 10 overs, the host repaired the initial damage to a great extent as it gave away only 68 runs while taking four wickets. The ever reliable Rashid Khan finished with an impressive spell of 4-0-23-2.

Most importantly, he accounted for the dangerous Shaw, who holed out at short third-man attempting another big hit. Vijay Shankar struck a six and a four in the last over to guide his team past the 150-run mark.