Delhi Capitals ended the run of the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the season 12 of the IPL with a thrilling two wicket win in Visakhapatnam. The win means Delhi Capitals will take on defending Champions Chennai Super Kings in the second qualifier the winner will take on the Mumbai Indians in the final on May 12 .
Put into bat by Shreyas Iyer , SRH missed the fire power of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow and it was evident from the start. They struggled hard for runs. Wriddhiman Saha ( 8) , Martin Guptill ( 36), Manish Pandey ( 30) , *Kane Williamson ( 28) , Vijay Shankar ( 25 ) < Mohammad Nabi ( 20) all got starts but could not carry on. They missed big innings from one of their top batsmen on a crucial day. And as a result could post 162 / 8 in 20 overs. They were at least 15- 20 runs short.
Delhi Capitals were spot on with their bowling , Ishant Sharma 2/ 34 ( 4 overs) , Trent Boult 1/ 37 ( 3 overs) , Amit Mishra 1/ 16 ( 4 overs) , Keemo Paul 3/ 32 ( 4 overs)
In reply , DC began on a very positive intent. Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan went after the SRH bowling and the duo put on 66 in 7.3 overs . Shaw scored a fine ( 56) , Dhawan happy to rotate scored ( 17)
When it seemed that Delhi would romp home they lost wickets suddenly and nearly made a mess of the run-chase. Shreyas Iyer (8), Colin Munro ( 14 ) , Axar Patel ( 0) , Sherfane Rutherford ( 9). Delhi slumped to a precarious 111/ 5.
But thanks to Rishabh Pant who once again proved the national selectors how wrong they were to keep him out of the World cup squad with a blistering innings. It was Pant’s heroics that saved Delhi . His 21 ball 49 took the game away from SRH . He smashed 5 sixes and two fours in his power packed innings. He has been the X factor for Delhi and he did it again. Keemo Paul not out 5 ( sealed victory off the penultimate delivery of the innings with a boundary off Khaleel Ahmed) and Trent Boult not out o saw Delhi reach 165/ 8 in 19. 5 overs. It was thriller. The Delhi collapse made the match exciting.
SRH bowlers nearly pulled it off but it was so near yet so far , Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/ 42 ( 4 overs), Khaleel Ahmed 2/ 24 ( 2.5 overs) , Rashid Khan 2/ 15 ( 4 overs) , Basil Thampi 0/ 41 ( 4 overs) Deepak Hooda 1/ 13 ( 1 over)