ABU DHABI: In-form Shikhar Dhawan smashed 78 off 49 balls to lead Delhi Capitals to a challenging 189 for three against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second Qualifier of the Indian Premier League here on Sunday.
It turned out to be a good decision to bat first as Dhawan and Marcus Stoinis (38) got the team off to a flying start with their 86-run stand.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer (21) could not do much but Shimron Hetmyer, who was brought in for Sunday's match, chipped in with an unbeaten 42-run knock.
Dhawan, in his well-paced innings, hit six fours and two sixes.
He added 52 runs for the third wicket with Hetmyer before being dismissed by seamer Sandeep Sharma (1/30).
SRH's sloppy fielding also helped Delhi Capitals as they dropped Stoinis early in the innings and gave them a few free runs.
SRH also dropped Dhawan towards the end, though it did not cost them much.
Yet again, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan (4-0-26-1) was the most effective bowler though T Natarajan bowled well in slog overs.
Stoinis was asked to open the innings by the Delhi Capitals.
After being dropped by Jason Holder off Sandeep at short mid-on, the Australian punished the SRH bowlers with a flurry of boundaries.
Stoinis, on three at that time, was nicely set up by Sandeep but the opportunity was not taken.
It was Holder, who was then taken to task by Stoinis, who creamed off 18 runs from the West Indian's over with three fours and a six.
Sandeep was initially impeccable with his length balls but drifted afterwards and was punished by Dhawan.
In-came spinner Shabaz Nadeem to bowl the last Powerplay over and ended up leaking 14 runs as DC reached 65 for no loss.
SRH skipper David Warner shuffled his bowlers around, handing the ball to Rashid and Natarajan.
The Afghan spinner got them the breakthrough with his eighth ball by castling Stoinis.
Dhawan raised his fifty with a six off Nadeem.
Iyer struggled to time the ball and was soon dismissed by Holder.