Hyderabad, Apr 19: Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on Kane Williamson’s brilliant knock of 89 and some superb show of death bowling by their bowlers as they beat Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs in their IPL match here today.
Electing to bat, Hyderabad posted a challenging 191 for 4 courtesy Williamson’s 89 off just 51 balls and his 136-run stand for the second wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan (70), and then restricted Delhi to 176 for 5 to maintain their unbeaten run at home.
With their fourth successive win at home, defending champions Hyderabad jumped to second spot with eight points from six matches. Delhi, on the other hand, occupy the fourth spot with four points from five matches.
Chasing 192 for a win, Delhi were in the hunt as they reached 56 for 1 at the end of six powerplay overs with Sanju Samson (42) and Karun Nair (33) going great guns though they lost Sam Billings (13) early on.
But once Samson and Nair were out, Delhi innings lost way and the asking rate piled up.
Samson, especially, played some exquisite shots, including a six off Siddarth Kaul and another off Mohammed Siraj early in the run chase to take Delhi to 56 for 1 at the end of six powerplay overs.
The duo were going great guns, putting Delhi in a strong position. But the game changed suddenly with two Delhi wickets falling in consecutive balls after Yuvraj Singh was introduced for the first time in the 10th over.
A run out came out of nowhere against the run of play and Nair had to depart after Yuvraj dislodged the bails to end the 71-run stand for the second wicket with Samson.
The next delivery, Rishabh Pant was out for a first-ball duck as Delhi were reduced to 86 for 3 with Warner taking an easy catch.
By the halfway mark, Delhi needed another 105 runs to win the match. But their task got more difficult as Samson got out in the 14th over after a strategic time out as he failed to read a slower delivery off Mohammed Siraj to hit straight to the hands of Moises Henriques.
That ended a promising innings from Samson whose 42 came from 33 deliveries with the help of three fours and two sixes.
Shreyas Iyer took on Afghan bowler Rashid Khan in the 15th over as he hit two sixes to collect 16 runs.
Delhi needed 65 from the final five overs but could only score 49 with the Hyderabad side bowlers coming up with a fine bowling show at the death overs.
Needing 24 runs from the final over, Delhi made a valiant attempt but ended up 15 runs short in the end.
For Hyderabad, Mohammed Siraj took two wickets for 39 runs while Kaul and Yuvraj grabbed a wicket each.
Earlier, Kane Williamson smashed a brilliant 89 off just 51 balls and shared 136 runs with opener Shikhar Dhawan (70) as Hyderabad scored 191 for 4 after electing to bat at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Hyderabad captain David Warner fell early in the second over for just four but Williamson and Dhawan treated the home supporters with some breathtaking shots to take the home side to a challenging total.
Playing in his first match of the season, Williamson was the more aggressor of the duo as he hit six fours and five sixes in his 51-ball knock before he was out in the 17th over.
Dhawan, on the other hand, hit seven fours and a six in his 50-ball innings.
Yuvraj Singh did not contribute much as he was out for three after facing four balls. Moises Henriques and Deepak Hooda remained not out on 12 and nine respectively.(PTI)
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