Delhi Capitals 189 for 3 (Dhawan 78, Hetmyer 42*, Stoinis 38) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 172 for 8 (Williamson 67, Samad 33, Rabada 4-29, Stoinis 3-26) by 17 runs
Delhi Capitals defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 17 runs in Qualifier-2 to book their maiden IPL final place against defending champions Mumbai Indians. The Delhi Capitals came into tonight’s game having won just one of their last six games, and another defeat here would have left everyone writing their campaign off as a squandered opportunity.
Capitals made Two key tactical moves ahead of important game, both paid rich dividends for them. Ricky Pointing sent Marcus Stoinis to open the innings for the first time in the season, and he, along with Shikhar Dhawan, rewarded them with their best powerplay of the season. They also brought Shimron Hetmyer back into their side, and his late hitting ensured the Capitals put up a challenging total despite a significant slowdown through the second half of their innings.
Stoinis contributed heavily with the ball as well, taking two wickets in the fifth over of the Sunrisers innings, and then coming back to remove well set batsman Kane Williamson.
Stoinis and Dhawan set the tone at the top
New Opening pair Stoinis and Dhawan gave Delhi their most productive powerplay of the season, but also only their third wicketless one, ending it 65 for 0. But Rashid Khan stopped their dominance by removing Marcus Stoinis (38 runs of 27 balls) with a quick leg break that ripped past the closed face of his bat.
Jason Holder removed Shreyas Iyer (21runs of 20 balls) in 14th over. But Dhawan and Hetmyer added 52 runs of 27 balls for third wicket before Sandeep Sharma removed dangerous Dhawan for 78 runs in 50 balls.
Delhi were on-track to score 200+ runs but Hyderabad youngsters Sandeep and Natarajan came back strongly in the last two overs largely by nagging away in the blockhole, with the left-armer Natarajan more or less nailing six yorkers in the final over. Only 13 came off the last two, and no boundaries. The Capitals had made 102 in their first 10 overs, but only 87 in their last 10.
Regular fall of Wickets dent big blow to Sunrisers’ chase
By the end of the powerplay, the Sunrisers seemed almost out of the contest. Kagiso Rabada struck with his first ball, a full in-swinger that moved late, to bowl David Warner off his pads, and Marcus Stoinis struck twice in his first over – the fifth of the innings – to remove Priyam Garg and Manish Pandey after a brief flurry of boundaries from the second-wicket pair. At the six-over mark, the Sunrisers were 49 for 3.
But the game wasn’t over yet, not as long as Williamson was in the middle. He kept finding ways to hit boundaries, picking up minor errors in line or length and creating scoring opportunities with his footwork. He shoveled Rabada over midwicket after stepping across his stumps, hit Axar Patel and Praveen Dubey for straight sixes after stepping out to them, and helped Stoinis over backward square leg with an impudent flick over his shoulder.
The departure of Holder in the 12th over – when the equation was 100 from 50 balls – didn’t stop the Sunrisers either, with Williamson now joined by Abdul Samad, who tore into Anrich Nortje in the 15th over, pulling him for a disdainful six before cashing in on width to pick up back-to-back fours. With 10 coming off the next over from R Ashwin, the Sunrisers needed 51 from 24.
Then Stoinis came back, and made Williamson lose his shape for once, with a full, wide slower ball that he carved into the hands of deep cover. The game wasn’t completely safe yet, as Rashid Khan showed with a six and a four off Ashwin in the 18th over to bring the task down to 30 off 12. But the batsmen simply had to keep swinging, and after another six from Samad – off a borderline high full-toss – the big hits kept ending up as catches on the boundary, with Rabada picking up three such wickets in the 19th over to wrench the Purple Cap off Jasprit Bumrah.
Post-Match comments:
Marcus Stoinis, Man of the Match:
“Have done it for a couple of seasons so it was nice to get an opportunity to bat at the top. There was a bit of swing early. We had a look at it first, and then we let go. I asked Rashid what the send-off was all about but he told me he didn’t say anything. So all fine. This tournament has been hard for everyone with quarantine and missing family etc. I am not sure if I will open in the final. We will speak to Ricky and see what to do. Mumbai are a very good team but I would like to say they are due an off day. See our best cricket should be enough to win so we have to play our best cricket.”
Shreyas Iyer:
“Amazing. This is the best feeling ever. This has been a rollercoaster. A lot of ups and downs. We have stuck together like a family. A lot of responsibility comes as a captain, and on top of that you have to maintain consistency as a batsman. But I feel I have been getting a lot of support from my coaches and the owners. Really fortunate to have such an amazing team. The emotions keep going high and low. You can’t have same set of routines. You have to keep chopping and changing. In the next game too, we have to play freely and maintain our temperament. We were happy with the total. We were going at 10 an over, but Rashid can be lethal so we decided to play him out. We were lacking in our opening partnership, and we needed that rocket start. We thought if Stoinis plays the maximum deliveries, he could give us a push.”
David Warner:
“First and foremost, no one gave us a chance at the start. Everyone talked of the big three: Mumbai, DC and RCB. So I am really proud of our campaign. Natarajan, Rashid, Manish Pandey have been the positives. That back half in the tournament is how we like to play our cricket. 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. Yes there were injuries but you have to work with what you have got. I am proud to get where we are today as no one gave us a chance.”
