IPL 2023: Washington Sundar’s three-fer, three run-outs helps SRH restrict Delhi Capitals to 144/9

Hyderabad: Off-spinner Washington Sundar claimed three wickets in an over as Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on clinical bowling and fielding to restrict Delhi Capitals to 133/9 in 20 overs in Match 34 of Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Monday.

Sundar got the wickets of DC skipper David Warner (21), Sarfaraz Khan (10) and Aman Hakim Khan (4) within six balls as Delhi Capitals slumped to 62/5 after electing to bat first on winning the toss.

Manish Pandey (34 off 27) and Axar Patel (34 off 34) revived the innings a bit but Delhi Capitals lost wickets in a heap again as they ended up with a below-par score at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here.

While Sundar claimed 3-28 off his four overs, experienced pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was at his miserly best with 2-11 in four overs. Sunrisers also affected three run-outs in all as they restricted Delhi to a small total.

Earlier, Delhi Capitals failed to capitalise on the Power-play, losing the Australian pair of Phil Salt (0) and Mitchell Marsh within the first five overs as they slumped to 30/2. Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck the first blow for Sunrisers Hyderabad when he had Phil Salt poking at and edging behind a wide-one to wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen.

Delhi Capitals’ problems were compounded further when Washington Sundar struck a triple blow in the eighth over. He claimed DC skipper David Warner, who chose to bat first on winning the toss, attempted a slog sweep to Harry Brook at deep backward square leg. Warner had hammered Sundar for a four and six off successive balls in the fourth over, the six a slog-sweep that landed five rows into the stands.

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A delivery later, Sarfaraz Khan, who was brought into the playing XI in place of opener Prithvi Shaw, played a similar slog sweep and found Bhuvneshwar Kumar making no mistake at the deep backward square leg.

From 58/4 in the eighth over, Delhi Capitals were reduced to 62/5 off the last ball of the over when Aman Hakim Khan, who slogged the previous delivery for four, played an ugly heave again but this time was caught skied a catch to Abhishek Sharma at the edge of the cover in the ring.

Manish Pandey and Azar Patel revived their innings a bit as they added 69 runs for the sixth wicket, taking them past the 100-run mark. Pandey scored 34 off 27, hitting two boundaries while Axar struck a run-a-ball 34.

But just when they were looking in a position to make a dash for a big score in the last five overs, Delhi Capitals lost three quick wickets — losing Pandey, Patel and Anrich Nortje within 10 deliveries to slump from 131/5 to 139/8.

Axar Patel was castled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar with a superb yorker while both Pandey and Nortje were run out, going for a dicey second run as the SRH fielders did not make any mistakes. Washington Sundar recovered well from a fumble to send in a fine throw to the keeper to catch Pandey short. Nortje had a major confusion with Ripal Patel over a second run and was caught well short by Umran Malik with a good throw to the keeper.

Delhi Capitals were not done, as they lost Ripal Patel to a run out in the final over when wicketkeeper Klassen brought down the stumps with an underarm throw and Delhi Capitals could only manage a below-par 144/9.

Brief scores:

Delhi Capitals 144/9 in 20 overs (Axar Patel 34, Manish Pandey 34; Washington Sundar 3-28, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-11) against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

(IANS)