Welcome to our coverage of Match 16 of the Indian Premier League in which the Delhi Capitals host the in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad.
End of Over 19: Delhi slump further as Morris departs, giving Bhuvneshwar his second wicket. The Sunrisers skipper could have easily gotten a third had Sandeep Sharma hung on to a simple catch of Rabada at midwicket. Axar finishes the over with a boundary. Delhi 115 for 7 with one over left. Can they get to 130?
End of Over 18: SIX! Morris goes big and gets Delhi Capitals just their second six of the innings. The 100 comes up for them. It hasn’t been easy for them but Morris is their last hope. He was out for a DUCK the previous match and here is his chance to redeem the innings later. Axar Patel struggling at the other end scoring 3 off 5. Delhi 105 for 6.
End of Over 17: Knocked him over! A wrong one from Rashid Khan, Iyer misses his sweep and Delhi have lost a big wicket here. He was looking to bat till the end, but having played so well for 43, the skipper has to depart. Delhi 97 for 6.
End of Over 15: A much-needed boundary from Iyer in Rashid Khan’s third over. All eyes on him to get the Capitals to a decent total. Delhi 85 for 5; five overs remain.
End of Over 14: OUT! Another one goes. A screamer from Manish Pandey at point sends back Colin Ingram as he holds on to a fierce cut shot from the batsman. Delhi in a rut at 80 for 5. Pandey had almost run Ingram out first ball but missed his aim by a whisker. Meanwhile, Chris Morris, the last recognized batsman for Delhi, is off the mark with a boundary.
End of Over 13: A boundary there from Shreyas Iyer but Delhi still continue to crawl at a scoring rate of under 6. Length ball from Sandeep gave Iyer, running out of partners, the opportunity to wade him towards midwicket for a BOUNDARY. Delhi 72 for 4.
End of Over 12: Fantastic over from Rashid, getting into his elements. Just four off that over; Delhi 65 for 4, and in urgent need of a move on.
End of Over 11: Another wicket! A knuckle ball from Sandeep Sharma foxes Rahul Tewatia who lobs the ball to Nabi. Delhi 61 for 4. Delhi needed more from Tewatia, especially after that previous boundary he hit. Perhaps the shot of the evening so far. Good length delivery from Sandeep Sharma but Tewatia was quick to get onto the backfoot and punch it through the covers. And the timing on that ball was right in the center of that GREEN bar in those cricket games. None the less, he’s gone and Delhi find themselves in a spot.
End of Over 10: WICKET! Delhi 56 for 3. How many times have we seen this happen? A break that results into a wicket. And it’s happened again. First ball after the time out and Rishabh Pant holes out at long-off. Nabi flights the ball from round the wicket and Pant goes inside out. Unfortunately for him, the ball doesn’t clear the boundary and Deepak Hooda takes it at long-off. Nabi finishes with splendid figures of 2 for 21. Could have been 3 for 21 had his LBW shout off the last ball been upheld. Nabi went upstairs and the ball seemed to be hitting leg stump. But since the original decision was NOT OUT, Tewatia stays.
End of Over 9: Another bowling change from Sunrisers. Sandeep Sharma given the ball and the medium pacer starts off well. Just five off that over. This is the depth Sunrisers have in the bowling. Delhi 52 for 2.
End of Over 8: Rashid Khan starts off with a loosener. A low, full toss. Just what Iyer and Delhi needed. Full and quick outside off the the Delhi skipper smashes it through the covers. Iyer is too good a batsman to miss out on that. Rashid fixed him three balls later outside off but pushes for two to take Delhi to 47 for 2.
End of Over 7: Delhi 41 for 2 after five singles were taken off Siddharth Kaul’s second. Iyer and Rishabh Pant getting their eyes in.
End of Over 6: GONE! One sweep shot too many from Shikhar Dhawan. After sweeping the first ball emphatically for a boundary, he top edges the final delivery off that over to Sandeep Sharma at short fine leg. Too wide to sweep as Nabi gets his first wicket. Delhi 36 for 2. About the first sweep shot, it was the first real sign of intent show by Dhawan. He had tried the sweep off Nabi a couple of time earlier but on this occasion was finally able to out some force behind it and got his first boundary. It was angling in and Dhawan got completely in control of the shot. Wasn’t to lucky the second time around though.
End of Over 5: Iyer goes big and that clears the ropes. Delhi finally get going it seems. Full fro, Siddharth Kaul and Iyer went wide of long-on. Tremendous shot from the Delhi skipper to take the total to 27 for 1.
End of Over 4: Delhi kinda stuck after that first over. There’s plenty of turn on offer and Nabi is not giving the ball any pace whatsoever. Iyer and Dhawan content rotating singles. Delhi 19 for 1
End of Over 3: GONE! Bhuvneshwar gets his man. Length, straight and TIMBER! Two dot balls, and Shaw went for the mighty heave across the line as the off-stump goes for a swing. Bhuvneshwar on the money as he gives away just a single. Delhi 15 for 1.
End of Over 2: Delhi 14 without loss. Good start from Mohammad Nabi, keeps Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan to taking six singles in the over. Tidy as expected from the Afghanistan spinner. He finished with 4 for 11 in the previous game against RCB. On a dry Kotla deck, what can he conjure?
End of Over 1: Two boundaries off the first over. Delhi 8 without loss. First ball of the match, and inswinger and Prithvi Shaw rocks back onto the backfoot for a boundary off the first ball. The penultimate ball took the edge and with no slip in place, went racing for a second. Good start from Delhi.
Alright then! Early treat for the fans at the Kotla as they get ready to see their favourite team bat. As the players get ready to come out and get the action underway, click here to find out what you can expect in the next four hours.
Captain’s Corner
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: We are going to bowl first. It’s a dry wicket but keeping the way we’ve batted in the last few games, we want to chase. We’re unchanged.
Shreyas Iyer: We would have bowled first as well, irrespective of what happened the other night. Looks a dry surface and it might spin more in the second half. So, banking on that. Three changes – Ishant, Axar and Tewatia come in.
Playing XI
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Jonny Bairstow(w), David Warner, Vijay Shankar, Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar(c), Sandeep Sharma, Siddarth Kaul
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Sandeep Lamichhane, Ishant Sharma
TOSS: Unchanged Sunrisers Hyderabad win toss and opt to BOWL against Delhi Capitals at the Kolta after Bhuvneshwar Kumar wins toss. Three changes for Delhi as Ishant Sharma, Rahul Tewatia and Axar Patel come in.
Hello everyone. A warm welcome to our readers for CricketCountry‘s coverage of Match 16 of the Indian Premier League in which the Delhi Capitals host the in-form Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both teams are level on four points, but Hyderabad are ahead having played one game fewer.
PREVIEW
There cannot be a better example of the fickle nature of Indian Premier League than the change of fortunes Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad have undergone inside two weeks of the competition.
While Delhi started the season with a dominating win, Hyderabad lost their way in the final overs to start with a defeat. Since then, the 2016 champions have improved bit-by-bit to post consecutive wins while Delhi have realised, they have serious batting issues to address if they wish to harbour playoff hopes.
