HYDERABAD: There were many questions surrounding the inefficiency of their middle-order.
Doubts have been repeatedly raised since the last season. And Sunrisers Hyderabad answered them by making four changes to their playing XI on Sunday.
To bolster the middle-order, Kane Williamson, Ricky Bhui and Abhishek Sharma were added. Khaleel Ahmed was handed his second-ever IPL game. His inclusion worked particularly well, as the hosts were successful in restricting Delhi Capitals to 155/7 at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, with the left-arm pacer snaring 3/30.
Just one day before the selectors sit down to announce the 15 who will be tasked to win the biggest trophy the sport has to offer, the lanky man from Tonk, Rajasthan, ripped through Delhi’s formidable batting. Putting his height to best use, the 21-year-old surprised batsmen with his pace and bounce.
Bowling the second over, Khaleel was straight into business. On the fifth ball, he played the extra-bounce trick. He lured diminutive opener Prithvi Shaw into playing a cut shot, but did not offer the requisite width. As a result, the ball was pouched by wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow.
In his next over, Khaleel removed another opener in sublime form: Shikhar Dhawan. A climbing delivery did the trick again when Dhawan went after it, but the southpaw ended up playing that into the hands of Bhuvneshwar Kumar stationed at fine-leg, making it 20/2 in 3.2 overs.
Delhi’s ship, that had been rocked by a torpedo named Khaleel, was steadied through a 49-run partnership between Colin Munro and skipper Shreyas Iyer. Abhishek got rid of Munro, who looked to be in punishing mood, in the only over he bowled.
A 56-run stand between Iyer and Rishabh Pant signalled a big score in store, but the former was scalped by Bhuvneshwar in the 16th over to reduce the side to 125/4. Three deliveries later, Khaleel came back to send Pant back to the hut.
From 102/3 in 12 overs to 152/7 in 19.3, Delhi would have wished they scored a lot more than just 155. The pressure exerted on Delhi batsmen was so much that they had to wait 34 deliveries to score a boundary, which came in the penultimate over bowled by medium-pacer Sandeep Sharma.
Yorkers that had gone wayward earlier in the tournament were back again, as spearhead Bhuvneshwar bowled them at.
Brief scores: Delhi 155/7 in 20 ovs (Iyer 45, Munro 40; Khaleel 3/30) bt Hyderabad 116 in 18.5 ovs (Warner 51, Bairstow 41; Rabada 4/22, Morris 3/22, Paul 3/13).