IPL 2019: Eliminator – DC vs SRH – Who Said What

The Eliminator of this IPL between the Delhi Capitals (DC) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) turned out to be a real humdinger. The match went down to the wire and eventually, Shreyas Iyer & Co. came out trumps by two wickets with one ball left. Amit Mishra got out obstructing the field in the last over when two runs were required off 3 balls and it spiced up the game somewhat, but it wasn’t a detriment for the Capitals, who’ll now play CSK on Friday.

The Sunrisers put up a substantial score

After losing the toss, the Sunrisers racked up 162 in their 20 overs. Wriddhiman Saha couldn’t make much of a difference as Ishant Sharma got his team the early success. His partner Martin Guptill played without any inhabitation and got 36 off 19 balls with one boundary and four sixes. Amit Mishra nipped out the big fish in the seventh over. Manish Pandey strained a wee bit, having struggled his way to 30 off 36 with three fours.

Kane Williamson also found the going tough and he got 28 off 27 before Ishant rattled his woodwork with a beautiful yorker. Vijay Shankar towards the end injected momentum into the innings with an 11-ball 25. Mohammad Nabi also chipped in with an important 13-ball 20 lower down the order to really give SRH a late push. Keemo Paul bowled a decent last over in which three wickets went down to kill the scoring momentum.

The Capitals prevail in the thriller

Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw put together a stand of 66 from 45 balls to take DC to a commanding position. Dhawan started with two fours and then Prithvi Shaw took over and picked the bones out of the SRH bowler. The young turk blazed his way to a half-century off 34 deliveries. Deepak Hooda got rid of Dhawan to break the opening stand while Khaleel picked up his first wicket in the form of opposition skipper Shreyas Iyer.

Khaleel accounted for the massive wicket of Shaw as well after the opener scored 56 off 38 with six fours and a couple of sixes. Rashid Khan pinned Colin Munro plumb in front and he got rid of Axar Patel in the same over to put DC under immense pressure. Pant took Basil Thampi to the cleaners for 21 runs off five balls in the 18th over to put DC on the driver’s seat. He eventually got out for 49 off 21. Keemo Paul hit Khaleel for a four to bring the curtains down on the game.

Kane Williamson, the SRH captain, said:

It was one of those surfaces that produce such close matches. I believed we had a competitive total after the first half, I knew it would be a tricky chase after the powerplay, with such totals there are small margins, we have been in a position of strength before and haven’t nailed it, today was another such day, a little bit frustrating. Delhi played very well, they are a strong outfit and I think they deserved this win, think they will go all the way.

We believed it was a winning total and it looked like it for a long time, they started well and had all the momentum, they had some quality players, as expected on this wicket we squeezed them back and got ourselves ahead, we weren’t not very clinical with the catching or in our bowling, we weren’t great today. It wasn’t our best performance, a few things needed to be changed and it could have been a winning total.

Warner and Bairstow were brilliant when they were here and they were prolific with the bat, we were without them for the last 2 or 3 games, but we still played very well despite missing them, just not quite getting across the line today. We can reflect back on some games, we had similar matches last time around and we were on the right side of those, not this time though, we were on the underside of those totals. We are building well as a franchise and the development process will have to continue.

Shreyas Iyer, the DC captain, said:

I can’t express my emotions. It felt like I have been sitting and watching for years when it came to the last two years. I could see the happiness on everyone’s faces. Hoping for another one at Chennai. Looking forward to the next game. But the start they got was really good on this track. We controlled in the middle phase. Mishi pa was exceptional as he conceded only 15 runs. The other bowlers did well to bowl economically. I personally feel you can’t realy control them (on Pant and Prithvi). When you stop a batsman like Pant or Prithvi, it hampers their mind and their flow. It was good that both of them came good tonight.

Rishabh Pant, the Player of the Match, said:

If you are set, you have to finish it for your team. Next time, I will try to finish it for my team as I got very close tonight. I just try to be positive. In T20s, you have to have a big over. We practice every day and we see the ball and not the bowler. Today, I didn’t try to hit it too hard and focussed on timing.

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.