IPL 2023: Brilliant bowling helps Delhi Capitals defend low score against Sunrisers

Hyderabad: Delhi Capitals came up with a brilliant bowling effort to squeeze out a 7-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad, negating some brilliant late-order batting by Heinrich Klaasen and Washington Sundar in Match 34 of IPL 2023 here on Monday.

It was a superb bowling effort by the Delhi Capitals bowlers as Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje and Ishant Sharma applied the squeeze as they throttled the Sunrisers Hyderabad innings in a low-scoring encounter.

Washington Sundar had claimed 3-28 and three batters were run-out as Delhi Capitals were restricted to 144/9 in 20 overs. Though it looked like they had fallen 20 runs short, in the end, it proved enough thanks to the brilliant effort put up by the DC bowlers.

After Mayank Agarwal (49) had maintained the Sunrisers’ chances with a crucial knock, Heinrich Klaasen (31 off 19 balls, 3×4, 1×6) and Sundar (24 not out off 15, 3×4) revived their chances after a middle-order wobble. Thanks to their efforts, Sunrisers Hyderabad needed 38 runs off 18 balls and after Klassen and Sundar claimed 15 runs in the 18th over bowled by Mukesh Kumar.

Nortje allowed SRH only 10 runs in the 19th over despite Sundar hitting a fine boundary. They needed 13 runs from the last six deliveries but Mukesh Kumar bowled a superb final over to win the match for Delhi. He allowed only five runs as SRH ended with 137/6 in 20 overs and fell short by a narrow margin.

This was the second successive win for Delhi Capitals as they continue their revival thanks to a brilliant effort by their bowlers. SRH succumbed to their third defeat in a row.

Mayank Agarwal had kept Sunrisers Hyderabad in the hunt as he struck a 39-ball 49 as they recovered from a poor Power-play in which they managed to score only 39/1.

Delhi Capitals bowlers came up with a disciplined effort and kept the SRH batters under pressure, dried up the boundaries and claimed crucial wickets in the middle part of the innings as the asking rate kept climbing.

Axar Patel claimed 2-21 off his four overs, Kuldeep Yadav gave away only 1-22 in his four while Ishant Sharma had 1-18 in three as Delhi Capitals applied the screws.

Agarwal kept alive their hopes after Harry Brook (7) was out early, castled by Anrich Nortje with 31 runs on the board. Agarwal struck seven boundaries as he tried to get the better of the DC bowling. He and Impact Substitute Rahul Tripathi (15) added 38 runs for the second wicket. However, after both of them were out in quick succession, Sunrisers Hyderabad lost Abhishek Sharma (5) and skipper Aiden Markram (3) were sent back by spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel respectively as SRH slumped to 85/5 in the 15th over.

Heinrich Klaasen blasted a superb 19-ball 31 and Washington Sundar contributed a 15-ball 24 not out but in the end, their efforts went in vain as the SRH succumbed to the pressure and failed to win a match they should have won easily.

Brief scores:

Delhi Capitals 144/9 in 20 overs (Axar Patel 34, Manish Pandey 34; Washington Sundar 3-28, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-11) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 137/6 in 20 overs (Mayank Agarwal 49, Henrich Klassen 31, Washington Sundar 24 not out; Axar Patel 2-21, Anrich Nortje 2-33) by 7 runs.