Delhi Capital’s aggressive batting resulted in a 17-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad. With this, Delhi has entered the IPL final for the first time.

Man of the match Marcus Stoinis’ all-round performance (38 off 27 balls and 3/26) fashioned Delhi’s win to a large extent.

Delhi won the toss and opted to bat first. Openers Stoinis and Shikhar Dhawan (78 off 50) posted an 86-run first-wicket stand in 8.2 overs. Shimron Hetmyer (42 off 22) provided the finishing touches to make a total of 189/3 in 20 overs. Hyderabad’s fielding was sloppy and cost it runs.

Chasing 190, Hyderabad lost early wickets. Captain David Warner’s wicket fell in the second over. Kane Williamson (67 off 45) provided the lone support. SRH was restricted to 172 for 8 as Kagiso Rabada claimed 4 scalps for 29 and Stoinis three, including the wicket of Williamson.

The final will be played in Dubai at 6 pm on November 10.

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Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten 72 (47 balls) helped give Mumbai Indians a comfortable nine-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals, in the in the 51st match at Dubai International Cricket Stadium on October 30. Delhi badly needed a win to ensure their last-four spot in IPL 2020.

Chasing a target of 111, Kishan and Quinton de Kock put together 68 for the first wicket. Anrich Nortje (1/25) removed de Kock in the 11th over. Man of the match Ishan guided MI to victory with 34 balls to spare.

Put into bat earlier, Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi were restricted to 110 for 9 in 20 overs with Trent Boult (3-21) and Jasprit Bumrah (3-17) wreaking havoc on the DC batting lineup. Boult claimed the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan (0), Prithvi Shaw (10) and Ravichandran Ashwin (12). Bumrah got the Purple Cap after claiming the wickets of Rishabh Pant (21), Marcus Stoinis (2) and Harshal Patel (5). Nathan Coulter-Nile (1/14) and Rahul Chahar (1/24) took a wicket each.

It is Delhi’s fourth straight loss, but they can still grab a playoff spot if they beat Royals Challengers Bangalore in their last game.

Sunrisers seal a five-wicket win over RCB

Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers helped gain a five-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the evening match of the day. The win took them to fourth spot in the table.

West Indies Test captain Jason Holder’s three sixes gave SRH the edge as they chased the modest target of 121. Holder also took 2/27 from his four overs.

After Sunrisers lost captain David Warner to Washington Sundar cheaply, Wriddhiman Saha and Manish Pandey put a 50-plus partnership for the second wicket. The fall of Saha (to Yuzvendra Chahal’s bowling) and Kane Williamson to Isuru Udana put SRH under some pressure.

Earlier, Sandeep Sharma took the wickets of Devdutt Padikkal and the in-form Virat Kohli cheaply. It was the seventh time in IPL that Sharma picked up Kohli’s wicket. Young Josh Philippe was the highest scorer for his team with 32 off 31 balls. Rashid Khan picked up his first wicket getting Josh Philippe out, soon after AB de Villiers fell to Shahbaz Nadeem.

Rashid was economic as usual with figures of 4-0-24-1, while Sandeep and Jason Holder claimed two wickets apiece.

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An unbeaten innings by Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar helped Sunrisers Hyderabad register an eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in the October 22 match in Dubai.

SRH won the toss and elected to field first. West Indies Test captain Jason Holder registered his best IPL bowling figures – 3/33 – to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 154 for 6 in 20 overs.

Playing his first match of the season, Holder dismissed Sanju Samson (36) and then skipper Steve Smith (19) and Riyan Parag (20) on consecutive deliveries. He also got Robin Uthappa (19) run out in the fourth over. From 74 for one after 10 overs, Royals slumped to a total that was about 15-20 runs short.

Pursuing a 155-run target, Pandey (83* off 47 balls, four fours, eight sixes) and Vijay Shankar (52*, four fours) stitched a 140-run third wicket partnership to cross the total with 11 balls to spare. Shankar’s bowling was top class too, yielding just 15 runs in his three overs and grabbing the wicket of Jos Buttler (9). Rashid Khan (1/20) took the wicket of Ben Stokes (30).

Sunrisers had a disastrous start with Jofra Archer felling openers David Warner (4) and Jonny Bairstow (10). Hyderabad was down 16 for two in two overs till the rescue act came from Pandey and Shankar.

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Rajasthan Royals won against Sunrisers Hyderabad by five wickets in an exciting match in Dubai on October 11. Royals now have three wins from their seven matches.

The first game of the day saw an 85-run sixth wicket partnership between Riyan Parag and Rahul Tewatia that clinched the match for RR. Parag took 42 off 26 balls played the winning shot – a six with one ball remaining – while Tewatia who smashed 45 off 28 balls won the man of the match award. Tewatia turned the match in Rajasthan’s favour by hitting Rashid Khan for three successive fours in the 18th over. They finished the game with a score of 163/5.

Chasing 159 on a slow wicket, Royals did not seem to have much chance after they lost Ben Stokes, Steve Smith and Jos Buttler with just 26 runs on the board. It then recovered from 78-5 to chase down Hyderabad’s 158-4 claiming victory from the jaws of defeat.

Parag, 18, who hails from Assam, celebrated with an impromptu ‘bihu’ jig as he hit the winning shot. Bihu is a traditional dance from Assam.

RR had made three changes to their playing XI – Ben Stokes, Riyan Parag and Robin Uthappa replaced Andrew Tye, Yashashwi Jaiswal and Mahipal Lomror. Sanju Samson playing his 100th IPL match scored 26 off 25 balls and took a brilliant catch.

Earlier, Sunrisers had won the toss and decided to bat. Captain David Warner scored 48 off 38 balls. Manish Pandey was the top-scorer with 54 off 44 deliveries, which was his 17th half century in IPL. Kane Williamson remained unbeaten on 22.

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Champions Mumbai Indians posted their third win in three matches on October 4 at the afternoon game in Sharjah Cricket Stadium against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Chasing a target of 209, captain David Warner (60 off 44 balls) did not get enough support from his batsmen in tackling the Mumbai bowlers save for Manish Pandey (30). The 2016 champions ended at 174 for seven after their stipulated 20 overs.

Though Mumbai lost their captain Rohit Sharma early in the match, Quinton de Kock (67 off 39 deliveries) and Ishan Kishan (31) listed a 78-run partnership to gift the team 208 for five wickets. Sunrisers pacemen and Rashid Khan did a good job, but Pandya brothers and Kieron Pollard caused maximum damage in the final four overs.

Trent Boult was declared Player of the Match for his 2/28 spell in 4 overs.

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Finally, Sunrisers Hyderabad had their first win in the T20 IPL season in the UAE. SRH won by 15 runs in the match in Abu Dhabi against Delhi Capitals, which ironically had its first loss this season.

Tabletoppers DC, which won the toss, had elected to bowl. Jonny Bairstow (53), David Warner (45) and Kane Williamson (41) put in good displays with the bat for SRH while debutant Abdul Samad (12 not out) opened his batting account in the IPL. Kagiso Rabada and Amit Mishra took two wickets each for DC.

After SRH set a target of 162, DC could only cobble up 147 in 20 overs. Wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant’s batting prowess (28 off 27) came too late for DC. SRH deserved the win as they were better in both bowling and batting departments.

For Sunrisers, Rashid Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar shone with the ball. Rashid won the Player of the Match for his brilliant 3/14 while Kumar bagged 2/25.

For SRH skipper David Warner, leading an IPL side for the 50th time, the day turned lucky.

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Kolkata Knight Riders registered their first IPL victory on September 26 with a seven-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad at Abu Dhabi. Chasing a meagre 143, they reached their target with two overs to spare.

KKR opener Shubman Gill’s unbeaten 70 came from 62 deliveries and was studded with five boundaries and two sixes, while England captain Eoin Morgan made an unbeaten 42 off 29 balls with three boundaries and two sixes. Together they put 92 runs for the fourth wicket.

Gill, who was adjudged man of the match, scored his fifth IPL half-century.

After electing to bat, SRH could cobble up only a below-par total of 142 for 4 in 20 overs. No.3 batsman Manish Pandey’s half-century (51 from 38 balls) went in vain. Opener and captain David Warner made 36, while keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha scored 30.
SRH, a former IPL champion, is now the only team without a win so far.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a 10-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first Indian Premier League match on September 21 at the Dubai Cricket Stadium.

Chasing 164, Sunrisers – who won the toss and decided to bowl – looked comfortable with Jonny Bairstow in superb form and batting on 61 (6 fours and 2 sixes) after the initial setback of losing opener David Warner (6) to a second-over run-out. Sunrisers looked all set with 121-2 in the 16th over but when Bairstow decided to attack a delivery from Yuzvendra Chahal (3-18), he became the first of eight wickets lost in 26 balls.

Vijay Shankar fell for a duck from the next delivery while the wickets of Priyam Garg (12) , Abhishek Sharma (7) and Rashid Khan (6) fell quickly soon after. An injured Mitchell Marsh demoted down the batting line-up led to the collapse of the lower order and RCB romped home in the IPL opener. RCB’s win was achieved in the final over when Sandeep Sharma (9) was caught in the deep by skipper Virat Kohli off Dale Steyn (1-33).

Devdutt Padikkal (56) and AB de Villiers (51) helped RCB shore up 163-5 in their 20 overs.

RCB’s maiden victory in IPL 2020 could signify that their jinx in the IPL is over and that they can hope for the title for the first time.

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