Sunrisers Hyderabad 197 for 6 (Abhishek 67, Klaasen 53*, Marsh 4-27) beat Delhi Capitals 188 for 6 (Marsh 63, Salt 59, Markande 2-20) by 9 runs
In a game of high drama where both sides kept landing punches at each other with neither backing off, Sunrisers Hyderabad pipped Delhi Capitals to arrest a three-match losing streak on a low, slow pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
At one stage, Capitals were on track to gun down a 198-run target when Mitchell Marsh and Phil Salt put together 112 in just 11 overs after David Warner fell for a second-ball duck.
Then one wicket led to another, and before Delhi could realise, Sunrisers had clawed back courtesy the guile of Mayank Markande, who picked up 2 for 20. Sunrisers now have three wins in eight games to Capitals' two in eight, which keeps them rooted to the bottom of the points table.
Abhishek's powerplay salvo
Back to open the innings after a game in the middle order, Abhishek Sharma began positively, lofting Ishant Sharma for two successive boundaries in the opening over. Mayank Agarwal's dismissal to a short ball gave Ishant some joy in his second over, but Abhishek wasn't in a mood to slow down. He took Ishant for four boundaries in the seamer's third over, hitting 43 in Sunrisers' 62 for 2 after the first six.
Capitals' comeback
The next four overs belonged to Capitals as they conceded just 21. Marsh left his mark on the game during this phase by taking pace off, the short boundaries notwithstanding, and allowing batters to force the pace on a surface where the ball was holding up. Two balls after he had Aiden Markram picking out deep midwicket, Harry Brook toe-ended a pull to the edge of the ring, Axar Patel the catcher on both occasions.
The Klaasen kick
After Abhishek raced to a 25-ball half-century, Heinrich Klaasen got into the game by taking apart Mukesh Kumar as the 11th over went for 24. Abhishek began it with two back-to-back fours and Klaasen finished it with a monstrous six down the ground off a legcutter. Axar, though, proved difficult to get away as he varied his pace and angles to finish with 1 for 29 from his four overs, the reward being the big wicket of Abhishek for a 36-ball 67. It could've been far more impressive if Klaasen hadn't belted him for two sixes to end his spell. A 53-run stand between Klaasen and Abdul Samad off 33 balls and some late runs from Akeal Hosein helped Sunrisers muscle 62 off the last five overs.
Warner falls but Marsh fires
Sunrisers couldn't have asked for a better start; Bhuvneshwar Kumar got Warner to chop on second ball of the chase. But Marsh and Salt raised the half-century of their partnership in just 29 balls by going after Hosein's left-arm darts. Sunrisers tried to get overs out of spin seemingly in a bid to negate dew, but Hosein was far too short and the batters helped themselves to a nice spread against the short square boundaries.
After five overs, ESPNcricinfo's forecaster pegged Capitals' chances of victory at 19.43%, but after seven, this figure had jumped to 45.68%. The reason for that partly was Marsh's take-off against Umran Malik. Malik kept bowling short and into the body for Marsh to get inside the line and simply help it to beat long leg twice for sixes in a 22-run over. Salt opened and closed that over with two bludgeoning fours of his own against the short ball. That put Sunrisers under the pump.
Markande leads spinners into it
Markande used the slowness of the pitch to string together dots before dismissing Salt with a return catch that he just managed to hold on to. It was a big wicket considering Salt's maiden half-century had set the tone for the chase. Then seven balls later, Manish Pandey ran down the track only for Abhishek to shorten his length and beat him in the air and off the pitch.
It was now all on Marsh to see Capitals home, but that wasn't to be as Hosein hit back superbly after the early onslaught by dismissing him. After being walloped out of the ground on the previous delivery, he bravely tossed it up for Marsh to go again, except this one gripped and turned and Marsh sliced it to Markram. That, right there, was the game for Sunrisers. Axar muscled a few towards the end, but the middle-order slowdown after the Salt-Marsh stand proved to be the difference.
