Chennai: In the first Super Over of this year’s IPL, Delhi Capitals came out on top with its captain Rishabh Pant unleashing a timely reverse-sweep off Rashid Khan to haul his side past the target off the last ball.Delhi’s left-arm spinner, Axar Patel, conceded just seven runs with Kane Williamson hitting a boundary. For the vast majority of the match, it looked like Delhi would romp to yet another victory before newbie J Suchith, in the company of the experienced Williamson, provided a dramatic last-minute twist by hitting two fours off Avesh Khan and followed it up with a six off Kagiso Rabada in the final over to draw the scores level at 159.
Delhi earned its fourth win in five matches. The win takes last season’s runner-up to second on the table, while Hyderabad has lost its fourth in five games to remain at lowly seventh.
Hyderabad’s chase followed an eerily similar pattern to its previous matches with David Warner once again getting run-out needlessly for just 6. Jonny Bairstow, as is his wont, batted aggressively hitting a four and six off Marcus Stoinis in the third over. This after he was dropped on 1 by Shimron Hetmyer off R Ashwin. Soon, Bairstow smote Ashwin for a huge six to keep the scoreboard ticking. He continued in the same vein by hitting Axar Patel, playing his first match this IPL, for a boundary followed by a maximum.
Hyderabad reached 50 within the powerplay when Kane Williamson struck Avesh Khan for a four before Bairstow hit the last of his four sixes. Off the next ball, Avesh had his revenge when Bairstow holed out to Shikhar Dhawan at mid-on for an entertaining 38 (18b, 3×4, 4×6).
Williamson kept a cool head shepherding the chase by remaining unbeaten on 66 (51b, 8×4). Towards the end, he was joined by J Suchith who struck a few lusty blows in an enterprising knock of 15 (6b, 2×4, 1×6). Hyderabad’s middle-order once again failed to get going as rookie Virat Singh struggled and consumed 14 balls for a measly 4 before getting out to Avesh. Kedar Jadhav, making his debut for Hyderabad, hit a lone boundary but soon fell prey to the leg-spin guile of Amit Mishra for 9 (9b, 1×4). Patel returned for his final over and trapped Abhishek Sharma and Rashid Khan off successive deliveries to leave Hyderabad at a precarious 117 for six.
Earlier, Prithvi Shaw hit a sparkling fifty to propel Delhi to 159 for four. The 81-run stand between openers Shaw (53) and Shikhar Dhawan (28) had set a perfect platform for DC for a huge total but Hyderabad spinners Rashid Khan (1/31 in 4 overs) and Suchith changed the course of the innings with their tight spells.
Skipper Rishabh Pant (37) and Steve Smith (34 not out) raised a 58-run stand for the fourth wicket to ensure a fighting total after electing to bat.