Delhi Daredevils produced an all-round effort and defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to jump to the third spot in the ongoing 2016 Indian Premier League.
Opting to bowl, the Daredevils first dished out a superb bowling performance to restrict the Sunrisers to a modest 146 for eight and then chased down the target with consummate ease in 18.1 overs, riding on a fine half-century stand between youngsters Sanju Samson (34 not out off 26) and Risabh Pant (39 not out off 26).
By virtue of this win, the Daredevils have moved up to the third spot in the standings with 12 points from 10 games. Despite the loss, the Sunrisers continued to lead the table with 14 points from 11 matches.
Chasing 147 for win, the Daredevils made a decent start, reaching 20 off the first three overs, before Mayank Agarwal (10) drove a length delivery from Ashish Nehra (1/23) straight into the hands of Yuvraj Singh at extra cover.
Quinton de Kock (44 off 31), however, looked in ominous mood and flicked Nehra over square-leg for a massive six and then followed it up with a boundary.
Karun Nair (20 off 17) matched his partner stroke for stroke and clobbered Barinder Sran for two fours in the next over.
De Kock continued his onslaught and struck Sran for a four and six in the eighth over to keep Delhi abreast with the asking rate.
But Moises Henriques (2/19) put a brake on Delhi’s chase by picking up two wickets in the 10th over.
Henriques first dismissed Nair with a peach of a yorker and then two balls later accounted for the wicket of dangerous De Kock, caught by Naman Ojha behind the sumps although the batsman should consider himself a tad unlucky as TV replays showed there was hardly any nick.
Thereafter, it was all Samson and Pant show as both youngsters played sensibly and mixed caution with aggression to stitch an unbeaten 72-run stand for the fourth wicket that came off just 50 balls.
Feature image source: IPL