IPL 2023, SRH vs DC | Who said what ft. Aiden Markram, Axar Patel
Delhi Capitals came out on top in another low-scoring thriller at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Monday as they trumped Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven runs. The hosts executed their job to near perfection with the ball to lay the foundation for a win but fumbled drastically in their chase.
Delhi Capitals won the toss and opted to bat first only for Phil Salt to lose his wicket on the third ball of the innings. A brief counterattack by David Warner and Mitchell Marsh saw the duo add 38 runs in 25 balls but the latter's scalp led to a devastating collapse from 38/1 to 65/5. Manish Pandey and Axar Patel bailed the side out with a 69-run sixth-wicket stand with knocks of 34 each to take them to a respectable 144/7. Washington Sundar was the pick of the bowlers with his 3/28 while Bhuvneshwar Kumar impressed in his 2/11 from four overs. In response, Hyderabad started off strongly but lost their way in the middle with a collapse of their own. The scoreboard went from 69/1 to 85/5, despite Manish Pandey's 49 off 39 balls and even though Heinrich Klassen's late blitz of 31 from 15 deliveries took them close, Washington Sundar failed to finish off the job, remaining unbeaten on 24 off 15.
Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper Aiden Markram admitted to being gutted by his team's poor quality of cricket with a focus on playing with intent in future games.
We were not good with the bat. Did Not show enough intent, not excited to win a game of cricket, unfortunately. We need to go back and see how we can be free and be better. It is a difficult spot to be in, you can say all the right things but guys have to buy into it. We want to play a certain brand of cricket and if we get it wrong doing that then it won't allow sleeping well at night. Tonight we lacked intent, unfortunately, we are letting ourselves down because of a lack of intent.
The visiting skipper David Warner was ecstatic after a second straight win for the side following five successive losses and praised Mukesh Kumar's last-over heroics, conceding just five while needing to defend 13 runs.
Thanks for all the support to the audience, they always give a lot of love. A challenging game for us, it was great to get two points. Mukesh Kumar held his nerves under pressure. Well done to him and the two spinners, they've been our rock. These two are experienced bowlers, they are never going to let you down.
Axar Patel was named player of the match for his run-a-ball 34 followed by figures of 4-0-21-2 with the ball.
Happy with my all-round performance. The batting especially, as that happened before. I was not prepared to bat so early but went on and took the challenge. The Two wickets were also special, especially the one where I bowled slower through the air. Need to make a bigger showcase for my trophies.
Delhi speedster Anrich Nortje, who took the all-important wicket of Heinrich Klassen in the penultimate over and finished with 2/33, spoke about his plans while bowling.
Obviously really happy to get the win. Still not the ideal performance, probably a few runs short. Bowling, I thought the spinners bowled really well and one or two of the seamers as well at stages, and then at the end, unbelievable finish. What an over [by Mukesh]. The [batters from the first innings] said there was some inconsistency on a good length so try straight lines and hit the wicket and see if we can get some inconsistency with some cutters here and there. [On bowling at the death] Just try to keep it as simple as possible. Just focus on the target and go. [On facing Klaasen] I'm not gonna lie, the plan wasn't to bowl half-volleys. But it's definitely a good challenge. [On Mukesh's last over] He was very clear. Kudos to him. He did an unbelievable job. He really focused well in that last over, took his time and executed. So it was so good to see and really inspiring.