Delhi Dardevils’ woes continue as its batsmen fail to deliver
The opposition was different and Virender Sehwag was back in the side but everything else went according to the pattern that Delhi Daredevils (DD) has followed in the Pepsi Indian Premier League this year.
Though it did try its best in defending a low total, and the match went all the way to the wire, DD remained in search of its elusive first win after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SH) by three wickets.
Even before the match, SH knew its strength was its bowling. And though its batting did appear to be losing its way in the middle as the DD spinners applied the squeeze, there just weren’t enough runs on the board.
SH lost Akshat Reddy run out early to a brilliant piece of fielding by Shahbaz Nadeem but Parthiv Patel and Kumar Sangakkara matched each other in scoring boundaries. A missed stumping chance of Kumar Sangakkara by Kedar Jadhav only made a bad day worse for DD. He didn’t add too many runs though.
All going awry
Two balls later, the ball was stuck in Cameron White’s helmet so deep that it looked it might be out of shape when finally it was forced out. Another two balls later, it was hit for a six by Hanuma Vihari. It was that kind of day for DD, which did not find anything going its way — except the toss.
Earlier, it was only Jadhav’s late assault that helped the host cross the three-figure mark. Jadhav, a triple-centurion in Ranji Trophy for Maharashtra, showed he could do the rescue act in the shortest format as well, scoring 30 runs off 20 balls studded with two huge sixes and a four.
Warner flops
After shouldering the burden of batting for three straight games, David Warner had an off day, carrying on from where Unmukt Chand — dropped to make way for a returning Sehwag — had left off, going for nought in the very first over.
But Sehwag’s return did not spell a change of fortunes. DD’s batting woes continued and three overs later, Mahela Jayawardene’s lofted shot off Ishant Sharma went only as far as Dale Steyn at mid-on.
In those four overs together, however, the duo looked keen to dispel any notions of rift. So much so that Sehwag, playing his first game of the tournament, followed Jayawardene out off the very next ball, caught by Cameron White standing wide of slip.
Thereafter, it was a procession of DD batsmen without substantial additions to the total.
The way the SH bowlers choked the run flow, DD was in danger of not crossing 100, but managed to put up 114 runs.
Scoreboard
Delhi Daredevils: David Warner c Anand Rajan b Steyn 0 (4b), Virender Sehwag c White b Ishant 12 (10b, 2×4), Mahela Jayawardene c Steyn b Ishant 12 (14b, 1×4, 1×6), Manprit Juneja c White b Amit Mishra 15 (22b), Johan Botha c Akshath Reddy b Anand Rajan 9 (14b, 1×4), Irfan Pathan c Hanuma Vihari b Perera 23 (30b, 1×4), Kedar Jadhav (not out) 30 (20b, 1×4, 2×6), Morne Morkel c Ashish Reddy b Perera 0 (1b), Shahbaz Nadeem b Steyn 0 (1b), Umesh Yadav (not out) 6 (5b, 1×4); Extras (lb-2, w-4, nb-1) 7; Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 114.
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Warner), 2-26 (Jayawardene), 3-26 (Sehwag), 4-44 (Botha), 5-65 (Juneja), 6-95 (Pathan), 7-96 (Morkel), 8-98 (Nadeem).
Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling: Dale Steyn 4-1-11-2, Ishant Sharma 4-0-35-2, Thisara Perera 4-0-31-2, Anand Rajan 4-0-20-1, Amit Mishra 4-0-15-1.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Akshath Reddy (run out) 1 (8b), Parthiv Patel c & b Nadeem 19 (19b, 4×4), Kumar Sangakkara c Sehwag b Botha 28 (28b, 4×4), Hanuma Vihari c Botha b Morkel 17 (23b, 1×6), Cameron White st Jadhav b Nadeem 4 (8b), Thisara Perera c Botha b Pathan 2 (3b), Ashish Reddy b Morkel 16 (9b, 2×4), Amit Mishra (not out) 16 (14b, 2×4), Dale Steyn (not out) 9 (5b, 1×4); Extras (lb-1, w-1, nb-1) 3; Total (for seven wickets in 19.2 overs): 115.
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Akshath Reddy), 2-46 (Parthiv), 3-54 (Sangakkara), 4-69 (White), 5-71 (Vihari), 6-89 (Ashish Reddy), 7-100 (Perera).
Delhi Daredevils bowling: Irfan Pathan 3.2-0-19-1, Siddhartha Kaul 2-1-8-0, Morne Morkel 4-0-27-2, Umesh Yadav 3-0-32-0, Johan Botha 3-0-11-1, Shahbaz Nadeem 4-0-17-2.
Man-of-the-match: Amit Mishra.
