New Delhi: Sunrisers Hyderabad got a much-needed win under their belt, after three losses in a row, as they beat Delhi Capitals in Match 40 of IPL at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.
Abhishek Sharma starred for Hyderabad with an all-round performance of 67 off 36 balls and 1/26 to help SRH win by 9 runs.
Sharma laid the platform with an aggressive 67-run innings while Heinrich Klaasen provided the finishing touches with a brisk 53 off 27 balls to help Hyderabad post a competitive 197/6.
Mayank Markande then led from the front with the ball with an excellent spell of 4-0-20-2 as Hyderabad bowlers bounced back hard and survived Phil Salt (59 off 35) and Mitchell Marsh's blitzes (63 off 39) to break the three-match losing streak.
Chasing 198, Delhi received a huge blow early as captain David Warner dragged one onto the stumps off the second ball of the innings from Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Phil Salt and Mitchell Marsh then went on the counter-attack and hit a flurry of fours and sixes to bring the 50-stand up off just 29 balls and take the Capitals to 57/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Salt cracked six fours inside the Powerplay while Marsh hit a six each off Akeal Hosein and T Natarajan in the same period.
Marsh continued to deal in sixes as he hammered a couple of pulls off Umran Malik for consecutive sixes while Salt hit a couple of fours to welcome Umran into the attack with 22 runs off his first over.
The pair continued to bat at brisk pace as Salt brought up his maiden IPL fifty off just 29 balls. In between, Harry Brook nearly pulled off a magnificent catch at long on as he plucked a one-handed catch of Marsh on the ropes, lost his balance and had the presence of mind to throw it back as the momentum took him over the ropes.
It was such a good effort that even Marsh applauded it. The Australian all-rounder brought up his half-century off 28 balls.
Hyderabad were in desperate need of a wicket and Mayank Markande answered the call via a spectacular reflex caught and bowled to dismiss Salt (59 off 35) as the leg spinner broke the 112-run stand.
Hyderabad picked two wickets in quick succession as Abhishek Sharma had Manish Pandey stumped in the next over. Akeal Hosein made it three wickets in three overs for the away team as he had the dangerous Mitchell Marsh (63 off 39) caught at extra cover off a miscued shot after being hit for a six off the previous ball.
Two overs later, Markande struck again as he made Priyam Garg (12 off 9) drag one onto the stumps. Markande finishes with excellent figures of 4-0-20-2.
Delhi kept losing wickets and it didn't help their cause as Sarfaraz was cleaned up in the next over by Natarajan. With 49 needed off 18, Axar Patel smacked a six off Bhuvneshwar and took 14 off the 18th over. With 35 needed off 12, Natarajan bowled another excellent over as he nailed his yorkers and gave away just 9.
With 26 required off the last over, Bhuvneshwar held his nerve and helped SRH cross the finish line with the home team falling short by 10 runs.
Earlier, Hyderabad captain Aiden Markram won the toss and elected to bat. They made three changes to the starting eleven as debutant Hosein, Rahul Tripathi and Abdul Samad replaced Marco Jansen, Washington Sundar and Natarajan.
They named Marco Jansen, Vivrant Sharma, Glenn Phillips, Mayank Dagar and T Natarajan as their substitutes.
Delhi made two changes as Priyam Garg and Mukesh Kumar replaced Sarfaraz Khan and Aman Khan. They named Sarfaraz Khan, Lalit Yadav, Abishek Porel, Khaleel Ahmed and Pravin Dubey as their substitutes.
Abhishek got Hyderabad off to a good start as he played some wonderful shots and cracked nine fours in the Powerplay. He set the tone cracking two fours in the first over from Ishant Sharma.
Mayank Agarwal survived an early scare as he was given out LBW in the second over, off Anrich Nortje but he reviewed it and ball tracking showed the impact was outside off. He however couldn't last long as he was caught behind off Ishant Sharma.
Hyderabad lost Rahul Tripathi too inside the Powerplay but nothing could stop Abhishek as he took on Ishant and smashed him for four fours in the sixth over to take SRH to 62/2 at the end of the Powerplay.
Kuldeep Yadav could have had a wicket in his fist over but Anrich Nortje gave Markram a lifeline as he dropped a catch at long off. Abhishek brought up his fifty in style next ball as he hammered his first six over deep mid-wicket.
Delhi pulled things back in the next two overs and it brought a couple of wickets as Marsh had Markram (8 off 13) caught at deep mid-wicket off a short ball and then another short ball had Harry Brook (0 off 2) caught at mid-wicket two balls later as Hyderabad reached 83/4 at the halfway mark.
Abhishek and Klaasen didn't let the pressure build further as they went after Mukesh Kumar and smacked three four and a six to amass 24 off the over but Abhishek (67 off 36) couldn't replicate the same in the next over and departed over trying to clear long on and holing out in the deep, off Axar.
Klaasen and Samad carried forward the momentum with an aggressive approach as they hit a slew of fours and sixes to bring up the 50-run stand off 32 balls.
Marsh got rid of Samad (28 off 21) to pick up his third wicket but Klaasen continued to attack and brought up his fifty off just 25 balls to propel the away side to 197/6. Klaasen remained unbeaten on 53 off 27 as SRH scored 62/1 in the last five overs.
Marsh was the pick of the bowlers for DC with figures of 4-1-27-4.
Delhi brought in Sarfaraz Khan as their Impact Player, replacing Ishant, in the 19th over. (UNI)
