Delhi Capitals reach their first IPL final with victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad
Written by News on 09/11/2020
Delhi Capitals are into their first IPL final after beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in a closely-fought Qualifier 2 in Abu Dhabi.
Shikhar Dhawan’s superb 78 from 50 balls helped the Capitals up to 189-3 and after Kagiso Rabada had bowled David Warner with his first ball, the Sunrisers slumped to 44-3 in the chase.
However, Kane Williamson followed up his heroics in the Eliminator with another vital innings under pressure and it was only when he fell to Marcus Stoinis (3-26) for 67 in the 17th over that the Sunrisers’ hopes began to fade.
Rabada (4-29) then all-but sealed the win in the penultimate over, taking three wickets in four balls, and the Capitals held on to complete a 17-run win and set up a final against Mumbai Indians in Dubai on Tuesday.
Having opted to bat, Delhi sprung an early surprise when Stoinis walked out to open with Dhawan but, nevertheless, the Sunrisers had a plan for him with a fielder immediately position at short mid-on.
In the third over, the first plan of the plan worked as Stoinis sent a leading edge off Sandeep Sharma towards Jason Holder in that very spot. The ball went quickly though and the West Indies skipper could not cling on as he went one-handed to his right.
The drop seemed to affect the Sunrisers, especially once Stoinis thumped the next two balls for four and then added to Holder’s woes by taking him for 18 in the next over.
Dhawan then took over, punishing Sandeep and Shahbaz Nadeem in the final two overs of the powerplay and, with the Sunrisers still reeling, the Delhi pair had put on 85 after eight overs.
The breakthrough came in the ninth and it was no surprise that it was Rashid Khan who made it, turning a leg break just enough to beat Stoinis’ (38 from 27) edge and hit the top of off.
Dhawan kept going though and brought up his 41st IPL fifty from 26 balls by launching Nadeem over midwicket for six.
Shreyas Iyer struggled to get going and, two balls after being dropped by Rashid Khan, chipped one to mid-off to give Holder a wicket.
The recalled Shimron Hetmyer came in and got off the mark with a boundary, drilled over extra cover, and with Dhawan perhaps tiring, the West Indies left-hander provided the impetus for much of the rest of the innings.
Dhawan was eventually dismissed by Sandeep, an lbw that he chose not to review despite DRS showing he was struck well outside off, and after a superb display of yorker bowling from T Natarajan, the Sunrisers could at least be happy to have kept the Capitals below 200.
Sunrisers took 11 from the first over of the chase but the game quickly swung in Delhi’s favour as Rabada produced a brilliant in-swinging yorker first up, the ball moving late and cannoning into the stumps via Warner’s pads.
Priyam Garg opened with Warner and thumped two big sixes and Manish Pandey started well to keep the Sunrisers up with the required rate in going into the fifth over of the powerplay. By the end of it, they were both gone.
Stoinis, pumped up after being given a send-off by Rashid Khan when he was dismissed, was fired up and was not shy of celebrating after castling Garg and then having Pandey caught two balls later.
That reunited Williamson and Holder, who got the Sunrisers home against RCB in their previous game, with the pair given an even tougher challenge this time. The partnership followed the same pattern to begin with, both players working the singles and Williamson picking his moments to go big.
They added 46 but by the 12th over, they needed nearly 12 an over and time was running out. Holder tried to relieve the pressure but was unable to clear the deep midwicket fielder off Axar Patel (1-33), bringing Abdul Samad to the crease.
With Williamson seeming in total control, the 19-year-old aided the New Zealand captain with some lusty blows and with four overs to go, the game remained firmly in the balance with Williamson perhaps making Sunrisers marginal favourites.
Four balls later though he was gone, Stoinis making yet another crucial intervention as he sent down a wide yorker and Williamson could only skew it to Rabada at deep cover.
Samad kept firing but Rabada was back for the 19th over and had the left-hander caught in the deep, he missed his yorker next ball but Rashid Khan was unable to take advantage and picked out Axar at long off. The hat-trick ball was a bouncer called wide for height but Rabada was back to it as his slower-ball bumper was pulled to Stoinis on the legside boundary by Shreevats Goswami.
Not typical fast bowler’s wickets but they were enough for Rabada and Delhi to secure a meeting with defending champions Mumbai Indians in the IPL showpiece.
Watch the IPL final in Dubai on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 1.50pm on Tuesday.
(c) Sky Sports 2020: Delhi Capitals reach their first IPL final with victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad
