Staff Reporter.
The Delhi Capitals secured their second win of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season with a seven-run victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday.
Chasing 145 runs to win, Anrich Nortje and Axar Patel helped restrict the hosts, as the Sunrisers could only manage 137 for six in their innings.
Nortje struck first as he bowled Harry Brook for seven, and the Hyderabad batting order continued to falter under the Capitals’ attack.
Opener Mayank Agarwal top-scored with 49 off 39 balls (hitting seven fours) before he was caught at long-on off the bowling of Patel.
The hosts continued to lose wickets at regular intervals as Rahul Tripathi was caught behind for 15, Abhishek Sharma (5) was caught and bowled by Kuldeep Yadav and skipper Aiden Markram was bowled for three by Patel.
Heinrich Klaasen was Hyderabad’s final hope with his 41-run stand with Washington Sundar before Klaasen was caught for 31 off 19 off the bowling of Nortje (2-33).
Needing 18 off the final over, it proved too much of a task for the hosts as Sundar remained unbeaten on 24, with Hyderabad falling seven runs short.
Earlier on, the Delhi Capitals were restricted to 144 for nine after opting to bat first.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck in the opening over as Phil Salt gifted an edge behind to the keeper for a duck.
A mini-partnership was built between opener David Warner and Mitchell Marsh before Thangarasu Natarajan got the breakthrough.
Marsh attempted to swing, but the ball hit his kneepad; Markram sent it upstairs, and ball-tracking showed all red as Marsh departed for 25.
Sundar then grabbed three wickets in the eighth over as he got Warner to top edge to the deep for 21, Sarfaraz Khan caught for 10 and two balls later, got Aman Hakim Khan to mishit to cover for just four runs.
Reeling at 62 for five, a vital 69-run partnership between Manish Pandey and Patel formed.
Kumar (2-11) bowled Patel out for a run-a-ball 34 (hitting four fours) to get the much-needed breakthrough for the hosts.
A collapse soon occurred as miscommunication halted the Capitals after a solid rebuild.
Pandey was run out for 34 off 27 balls, Anrich Nortje was run out for two and Ripal Patel was also short of his crease on five.
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Mayank Agarwal, Heinrich Klaasen, Harry Brook, Aiden Markram (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Washington Sundar, Marco Jansen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Umran Malik, T Natarajan
DELHI CAPITALS: David Warner (captain), Phil Salt, Mitchell Marsh, Sarfaraz Khan, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Ripal Patel, Aman Khan, Anrich Nortje, Kuldeep Yadav, Ishant Sharma.