IPL 2017 Match 21 report: Daredevils fall 15 short of Sunrisers’ 191

IPL 2017 Match #21 report: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Delhi Daredevils at Hyderabad

 

In a nutshell:

The Sunrisers put up 191 on a fresh Hyderabad wicket via an 89 from Kane Williamson and a 70 from Shikhar Dhawan. The Daredevils could not chase it down and fell 15 runs short, failing to score the 24 runs needed off the last over.

 

Scoreboard and CricMetric Analysis

 

How it unfolded:

The Sunrisers won the toss and David Warner elected to bat on a true Hyderabad surface. The match began with a Jayant Yadav no-ball, but the momentum was soon curtailed by a 145 kph short ball by Chris Morris that David Warner skied to Amit Mishra at square leg. Kane Williamson, at 3, along with Shikhar Dhawan steadied the ship and then accelerated, taking charge to the bowlers during their 136-run partnership. Williamson eventually fell for 89 of just 51 to a Morris full ball he tried to heave onto the leg-side which was smartly caught by Shreyas Iyer, running in from deep midwicket. However, this did little to stop the run flow, as the Sunrisers took full advantage of the somewhat strange bowling order, where Angelo Mathews was used as a front-line seamer and a death bowler. Shikhar Dhawan continued the carnage, but eventually fell for 70 off 50 balls to a Morris full ball on leg stump that was flicked straight to fine leg. Yuvraj Singh continued his poor run of form and was bowled around his legs off the very next ball, by Morris, for just 3 off 4 balls. Deepak Hooda (9 off 4) and Moises Henriques (12 off 6) played neat cameos to propel the score out of the Daredevils’ reach and eventually, after 20 overs, the Daredevils needed 192 to win.

 

Delhi began strongly, and lost just one wicket (Sam Billings drove a Siraj ball to midwicket for 13 off 9) in their powerplay, for 56 runs. Sanju Samson and Karun Nair shepherding the chase skillfully till the 10th over, when the bowler, Yuvraj Singh and Vijay Shankar carried out the run out of Karun Nair, an expert bit of fielding that changed the momentum of the game. Delhi’s man in form, Rishabh Pant then holed out to long on for a golden duck off a Yuvraj offbreak and Delhi’s chase slowed down as they tried to rebuild. Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson were not able to put together the runs at the pace needed, and by the time Samson holed out to cover, for 42 off 33, the Daredevils faced the uphill task of chasing 87 off 41. Their troubles intensified by a poor showing from Angelo Mathews, who never looked in and spent too many balls trying to hit sixes, but only getting singles. He combined with Shreyas Iyer for a 75 run partnership, that came ultimately too slowly, which failed to take Delhi home. They were left to chase 24 off the last over, and Mathews holed out off Siddarth Kaul off the penultimate ball, for 31 off 23. Morris was not out for 0*(0) and Shreyas Iyer ended with an unbeaten 50(31) at the end of the 20th over, with the Daredevils losing by 15 runs.

 

Where the game was won:

 

Kane Williamson’s class has been reflected in the longest format over and over again, as well as in ODI’s. In t20’s he’s relatively underrated, but proved his worth, and his six-hitting ability through his monumental 89. It came with deft touches, hard run one’s and two’s as well as well times slogs into the stand. It took away the pressure on the Sunrisers after losing David Warner and made the runs a few to many for the inexperienced Delhi lineup to chase down.

 

The runout of Karun Nair and the wicket of Rishabh Pant in the space of two balls took the wind out of the Daredevils’ sails. They were cruising till the 10th over, but the double strike took out a set Karun Nair and possibly Delhi’s most dangerous batsman in Rishabh Pant, and served as the changing point in the game.

 

The running between the wickets that the Sunrisers, particularly Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan showed added at least 10 runs to their score in what were ‘risky’ or ‘cheeky’ runs. They capitalized on wayward throws, poor throwing accuracy and fielders being slow on the ball. The general standard of fielding by both teams was surprisingly good, by IPL standards, but the Sunrisers’ running trumped that, pushing their total from competitive to massive.

 

Takeaways:

Delhi have a balance crisis in their batting order. They have some of the most talented Indian young batsmen in Shreyas Iyer (22yo), Rishabh Pant (19yo), Sanju Samson (22yo) and Karun Nair (25yo), yet, save Sanju Samson’s recent century, have failed to convert their starts to match winning totals, or combined to form match winning partnerships. Furthermore, they play the inexperienced Sam Billings at the top of the order, which is not ideal, as he is surrounded by similarly inexperienced domestic players. They need to combine inexperience with experience, as the Sunrisers have done with their bowling attack, and allow their batting lineup to build around a solid top order international player. Unfortunately, without the services of Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy, who have been around the international set-up for years now, their batting looks frail and inconfident chasing big targets. Perhaps a Sunil Narine-style cameo from someone like Pat Cummins or Corey Anderson at the top of the order would alleviate the pressure Delhi’s batting faces chasing scores north of 160. Their bowling was far from abysmal, but strange selection and order allowed the Sunrisers a target they should never have reached. Jayant Yadav’s inclusion meant Morris, Zaheer and Cummins would have to cover the death overs. However, strangely, Cummins was used earlier, and thus Angelo Mathews, whose bowling was less than 10 kph faster than the spinners’, bowled in the death and was taken to task by the Sunrisers’ batting. Pat Cummins has not lived up to the hype and his line and length were wayward, and cost Delhi dearly. Perhaps it’s time to try out Kagiso Rabada, whose form of late has been exemplary. Furthermore, Shami would be an excellent inclusion for Jayant Yadav or even Angelo Mathews, whose effectiveness at number 6 is doubtful. All in all, Dehli need to find a better way to utilise their talent, as right now, it seems as if they are internationally throwing away what could be a dream season for them.

 

The Sunrisers Hyderabad will take away one important lesson from this win: they can win without David Warner performing. This revelation is important for their morale if they lose Warner in a must-win game. Furthermore, their bowling unit can do no wrong. Bhuvneshwar Kumar is in the form of his life and their bench looks stronger than most teams’ first choice attack with Nabi, Cutting, Mustafizur, Bipul Sharma, Nehra, Sran and Jordan all sitting out. The form of Yuvraj Singh is a concern, but they are not feeling the pinch of his non-performances yet. They would want to capitalise on this superb run of form by racking up more points to give themselves a good a chance as possible to qualify early.

 

What this means for the tournament:

The Sunrisers sit 2nd on the table, tied on points with the Mumbai Indians and the Knight Riders, all at 8 points. They’ve played 6 games so far and have looked extremely dominating so far, as we approach the halfway stage. They will be silently confident of an early qualification, and will be looking for a place in the elusive top 2. They face the Rising Pune Supergiants on Saturday at the MCA Stadium in Pune, a game that they will be silently confident of coming out of the winners.

 

The Daredevils are 2 spaces below them, with 2 wins off their 5 games, but still in the qualification zone. They have looked assured in their wins and close runners-up in their losses but that’s a trend with the Daredevils. They will hope to continue the glimpses of excellence they showed in the games against Pune and the Kings XI Punjab. They face the Mumbai Indians at their fortress later that same Saturday, a game that could prove to be their undoing.

 

——————————————–

Vedant Jain is a contributor at CricMetric. For any queries or information, email vedantja@usc.edu