Delhi beat Hyderabad, set up final clash with Mumbai

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Kagiso Rababda took a hat-trick after Shikhar Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis’ splendid batting performances as a rampant Delhi Capitals (DC) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 17 runs to set up a final showdown with Mumbai Indians (MI) on Sunday.

After posting a mammoth total of 189/3, Delhi restricted Hyderabad to 172/8. Chasing, Hyderabad got off to a stuttering start as Rabada rattled the stumps of David Warner with just 12 runs on the board.

Priyam Garg and Manish Pandey put on a 32-run stand to revive the innings. But Hyderabad were pegged back by Stoinis as he struck in a quick successions to reduce them to 44/3 form 40-1 within a span of two deliveries.

Kane Williamson and Jason Holder added 57 runs for the fourth wicket to keep Hyderabad in hunt. Stoinis got rid of Willaimson to break the partnership.

The departure of Williamson opened the floodgates for Rabada as he ripped through the lower order to wipe the tail with a hat-trick.

He had Abdul Samad and Rashid Khan caught by Paul and Axar Patel respectively before Shreevats Goswami holed to Stoinis as South African completed the hat-trick.

Earlier, a resurgent Delhi put up a clinical batting performance to post a mammoth a total of 189/9. A change in the ploy by the master strategist Ricky Ponting brought the turnaround of fortune for Delhi, who have been plagued by a series of inconsistent performances of late.

Dehli dropped an out-of-form Prithivi Shaw and reshuffled the batting order, relying more on power-hitting than conventional batting order.

Marcus Stoinis was promoted to open the innings with Shikhar Dhawan, who is renowned for his firebrand batting style.

Stoinis came into the match on the back of a fighting fifty against a ruthless Mumbai Indians in their last encounter. Both the batsmen gave Delhi a blitzkrieg start, putting up a whopping 86 runs for the first wicket in just 8 overs.

Dhawan was more brutal of the two but it was Stoinis who began the carnage. He flexed his arms as early as in the fourth over only, smashing Jason Holder, the hero of the last match, for three boundaries and one six.

After that there was no looking back as both the batsmen plundered the runs on their will, hitting the bowlers the runs across the ground. In the sixth over, Stoinis again collected 15 runs off Nadeem as Delhi reached 65 for no loss in the power-play.

By the time, Dhawan also changed his gears, tonking star spinner Rashid for a six as the partnership swelled to 76 in just seven overs.

In his next over, Rashid got rid of Stoinis to break the danger-looking partnership and bring a temporary respite to the camp of Hyderabad. Capitalising on the solid platform, Iyer started off aggressively. Dhawan brought up his fourth fifty of the season with a six off Nadeem Khan in the ninth over.

Both the batsmen added 40runs for the second wicket to take the score to 126 in 13.5 overs. This was the only stage in the innings when the run rate dipped a bit for a brief period as Iyer mellowed down a bit and consumed 20 deliveries for his 21.

Hyderabad heaved a sigh of relief, oblivious of the mayhem that was about to strike. West Indian Shimron Hetmyer joined Dhawan in the middle to inflict more misery on a hapless Hyderabad.

They added a quick-fire 52 runs for the third wicket in 4.3 overs to take the score to 178/3. Dhawan was trapped by Sandeep Sharma after scoring a 50-ball 78 with the help of six fours and two sixes. Hetmyer smashed a blitzkrieg 22-ball 42. His innings was studded with four boundaries and one six. After the victory, Delhi captain Iyer said: “This is the best feeling ever. This has been a rollercoaster. A lot of ups and downs. We have stuck together like a family,” said Iyer in the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Really fortunate to have such an amazing team. The emotions kept going high and low.”

“We were lacking in our opening partnership, and we needed that rocket start. We saw how Stoinis has been playing, including in the last match and we thought if he plays the maximum deliveries, he could give us the push,” said Iyer.

Warner said: “You can’t win tournaments if you keep dropping catches and missing chances. I think with the ball and the bat we improved after doing badly but our attitude in the field let us down.”