IPL 2014: Sunrisers go fourth with rain-affected win over DD

Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets in a rain-shortened five-over game Toss: Sunrisers won the toss and chose to bowl first. Delhi Daredevils 143 for 7 (Karthik 39, Pietersen 35, Mishra 2-23, Steyn 1-20) Some baffling tactics from Delhi combined with excellent death bowling from Hyderabad to restrict the hosts after they looked set to get around 170 in a rain-interrupted innings at the Feroze Shah Kotla. Further rain interruptions meant the match would eventually be shortened to five overs and reduce Sunrisers’ target to 43. [caption id=“attachment_1517377” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Rain was the story in Sunrisers’ win over Daredevils. BCCI[/caption] JP Duminy and Kedar Jadhav, the two best batsmen for Delhi this season, were sent in at No 6 and No 7, by which time just three overs remained. At that stage, neither batsman had time to get set and neither lasted long as a result. It allowed Sunrisers to seize the initiative in the final five overs, from which they conceded just 22 runs and picked up four wickets. The finish squandered a solid platform for Daredevils. Quinton de Kock didn’t last long but Kevin Pietersen, opening for the first time this season, was in a belligerent mood. He tonked Karn Sharma over long-off in his first over and then sent Moises Henriques over long-on in his first over. His assault allowed Delhi to amass 52 runs from the PowerPlay, their best effort of the season. SRH promptly took the strategic time-out and the break worked. Amit Mishra was introduced and he induced Pietersen into a false shot with his third delivery. There was only a slight loss in momentum though, as Mayank Agarwal and Dinesh Karthik kept things moving at a brisk clip. It was Agarwal’s dismissal in the 9th over – he was caught in the deep off Mishra – where Delhi began their strategic unravelling. Instead of Duminy or Jadhav striding out, it was Laxmi Ratan Shukla. While the three batsmen before him all had strike-rate of at least 130, Shukla scored at less than a run-a-ball, putting the pressure on Karthik to keep the scoreboard moving. Still, at 103/3 after 13.1 overs when the umpires took the players off the field with the threat of rain in the air, DD looked well placed. It would all go a bit pear-shaped following the resumption after an hour’s delay. DK would slog-sweep Sharma for six but Henriques removed Karthik and Shukla in the 17th over before Irfan Pathan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Dale Steyn combined to allow just nine runs from the last three overs. Kumar bowled a series of yorkers in a brilliant penultimate over that ended with Duminy’s legstump going for a walk while Steyn picked up the wicket of Jadhav with his final delivery. Together, the pair posted figures of 8-0-43-2 to leave their side feeling much the better at the break. Sunrisers Hyderabad 44 for 2 from 4.2 overs (Ojha 13*, Warner 12*) SRH’s target was first reduced to 117 from 15 overs after rain delayed the start of their innings before two further breaks reduced the chase to 43 from five overs. The second break came with Sunrisers 17 for 1 after two overs and left them needing just 26 from 18 balls with nine wickets in hand. Given that equation, there was only going to be one winner. Before the second rain-break, Shikhar Dhawan had found one of the three men stationed in the point region for his cut shot in the second over and there was late drama when Rahul Shukla bowled Aaron Finch in the fourth. But Naman Ojha slammed Rahul for a six to reduce the equation to six from six balls before finishing matters off with another six off the other Shukla i.e. Laxmi Ratan. The win pushes Sunrisers up to fourth in the table and leaves Delhi with only a mathematical chance of qualifying for the playoffs. Turning Point: The wickets of Karthik and Laxmi Ratan in the 17th over. The pair was set and though Delhi had Duminy and Jadhav to come, there would be no time for them to get set. Henriques is not the most threatening of seamers either and was the weak link at the death but both batsmen failed to time their slogs and perished.