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Sunrisers' comprehensive display sinks Capitals

cricket20 April 2024 18:30
By:David Knowles
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Another brutal batting and bowling display from the high-flying Sunrisers Hyderabad saw them romp to a 67-run victory, their fourth on the trot, against the Delhi Capitals in match 35 of the Tata IPL at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday.

Chasing a mammoth 267 to win after the Sunrisers had smashed 266 for seven, the Capitals were bowled out for 199 in 19.1 overs, the win seeing the Sunrisers move to second on the points table.

 

The Capitals were not too far off the required rate at one stage, reaching 88 for two in the powerplay and 138 for four after 10 overs. However, inspired bowling from the Sunrisers in the middle overs saw the Capitals score just 36 runs in five overs while losing two wickets, a situation from which there was no recovery.

Capitals captain Rishabh Pant battled to get going with a strike rate of under 90 at one point in his innings, his 44 from 54 balls way off his usual attacking flair and strokeplay. The star of the Sunrisers' bowlers was left-arm medium pacer Thangarasu Natarajan who ripped through the Capitals' lower order to finish with an impressive 4-19 in his four overs, his best IPL and T20 career figures, being on a hat-trick at one stage.

Mayank Markande (2-26), Nitish Reddy (2-17), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1-33) and impact player Washington Sundar (1-46) wrapped up the rest of the wickets.

Asked to bat, the Sunrisers were merciless in scoring more than 250 for the third time in this year's IPL. Openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma raced to 125 without loss in the powerplay, the highest six-over score ever in the IPL and T20 cricket worldwide.

HEAD CONTINUES GOOD FORM

Head, coming off a century in his last innings, reached 50 from 16 balls and looked set for another hundred before perishing for 89 from 32 balls (11x4, 6x6) in a first-wicket partnership of 131 in a mere 6.2 overs.

Sharma fell for 46 from 12 balls (2x4, 6x6) and credit to the Capitals' bowlers striking back to have the Sunrisers 154/4 after their murderous opening act. It was scant relief as Reddy (37) and Shahbaz Ahmed (59 not out) put on a fifth-wicket partnership of 67 from 47 balls to ensure another healthy total for their bowlers to defend.

Legspinner Kuldeep Yadav was impressive in picking up 4-55 in his four overs, while fellow spinner Axar Patel bagged 1-29 in his spell. Medium pacer Mukesh Kumar (1-57) was the only other bowler to taste success as the rest of the Capitals' bowlers were carved for more than 10 runs to the over.

Head was named Man of the Match.

DELHI CAPITALS: David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Rishabh Pant (capt & wk), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed.

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), Abdul Samad, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (capt), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Thangarasu Natarajan

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