IPL 9, Match 52 Review: Karun Nair leads DD to a thrilling win over SRH

The Delhi Daredevils were in a spot of bother after their defeat at the hands of Rising Pune Supergiants a couple of days ago. They were then left with 2 must win matches and the first of those two roadblocks was against the table toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad at Raipur. The new adopted home venue for the Daredevils, Raipur, is one of the biggest grounds of the country.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad, on the other hand, were just one win away from confirming their place in the top two of the league standings. The highlight of the match remained the fact that the SRH team kept losing wickets at the intervals when they needed to accelerate. On the other hand, the Daredevils kept cruising along but lost wickets just when one thought they would get over the line.

Having won the toss, DD skipper Zaheer Khan decided to bowl first. Eoin Morgan was drafted in the SRH team in place of Ben Cutting and Delhi fielded Carlos Brathwaite in their playing XI, leaving Chris Morris out. The Sunrisers openers, David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, walked to the middle. They have been doing the bulk of the scoring for them but it wasn’t to be so in this match.

They got off to a decent start but then a terrific fielding work by Carlos Brathwaite off his own bowling on the last ball of the powerplay saw Shikhar Dhawan walk back to the pavilion on just 10. SRH were 46/1 in the powerplay. The very next over saw another horrible mix up between Warner and Deepak Hooda; it resulted in the latter being run out on 1. Yuvraj Singh (10) walked in but had to take the long way back soon as he chopped the delivery back to his own stumps off the bowling of Brathwaite.

Moises Henrique was the new man in and he provided the much-needed support to skipper Warner, who was going good at the other end. The Aussie pair put on 39 off 24 balls before Henriques (18) became JP Duminy’s first victim. He slogged one but into the hands of Pawan Negi. To be honest, it would have been a six on any other ground in the country but the long boundaries here worked in the favour of Daredevils.

Just when the team needed acceleration, Warner lost his wicket to Brathwaite and was dismissed on 73 off 56 balls with 8 fours and a six. In 15 overs, the SRH were 117/5. They needed some acceleration towards the end, but none could do that. Cameos from Morgan (14), Naman Ojha (16*) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (13) saw SRH propel to a score of 158/7 by the end of their 20 overs.

The Delhi Daredevils promoted Rishabh Pant up the order to open the innings with Quinton de Kock. The move worked well too. However, it was the senior partner, de Kock, who failed to leave an imprint on the game and was dismissed on 2 by Barinder Sran. Karun Nair came to the crease and batted with flair. Some gorgeous stroke making from the two Indian batsmen was on display.

The duo put on73 runs in 59 balls before Pant was run out by Bhuvneshwar Kumar on 32 off 26 balls. Nair was joined by JP Duminy in the middle. Nair continued to bat well and soon brought up his half century in 42 balls. Duminy’s brief stay of 15 balls yielded 17 runs and his dismissal in the 17th over by Barinder Sran brought the big man Carlos Brathwaite to the middle.

Needing 28 off the last 3 overs, the Daredevils were favourites to cruise past the target. 12 runs came off the 18th over which was bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and the equation got simpler with 16 needed off 12. Mustafizur Rahman had the ball in hand and it was the test for the young Bangladeshi. He responded in the best possible manner. He removed the dangerous Carlos Brathwaite (10) first and then ended up giving just 5 runs of the penultimate over. With 11 needed off the last over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had the ball in hand. It all looked to be SRH’s game with 6 needed off 2 but a couple of boundaries of the last two balls by Karun Nair saw Daredevils home by 6 wickets. Karun Nair was the hero with the bat with 83 off 59 balls including 8 fours and 3 sixes.

Brief Scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 158/7 in 20 overs (D Warner 73; C Brathwaite 2/27)

Delhi Daredevils: 161/4 in 20 overs (K Nair 83; Sran 2/34)

Man of the match: Karun Nair