The Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) registered a comprehensive win of 88 runs over Delhi Capitals (DC) in a do-or-die match in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Tuesday. The Orange Army decided to drop Jonny Bairstow from the XI and replaced him with Kane Williamson in the line-up while Wriddhiman Saha came out to open the innings David Warner, and the decision paid off big time.
The new opening duo came out all guns blazing as it was Saha who played his shots first and from the fourth over, and once he got his eyes in, Warner started smashing even the likes of Ravi Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, and Anrich Nortje. The SRH skipper celebrated his birthday with a 25-ball half-century and helped his team to reach a total of 77/0 in the powerplay, the highest score after six overs this season. Warner and Saha added as many as 107 runs for the opening wicket, but it was Ashwin who managed to fox the former.
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After Warner’s dismissal, the run-rate increased further with Saha throwing his bat literally at everything. Manish Pandey played the supporting role during the 63-run stand for the second wicket which came off just 29 balls. In the process, Saha scored his half-century off just 26 balls and didn’t stop there. He took a toll on the other DC bowlers as well and he was looking set for a well-deserved century, but he got out to Nortje but not before slamming 87 off just 45 deliveries.
The platform was set for Pandey and Kane Williamson and they added 49 runs in off their last 33 deliveries after Saha got out. SRH eventually posted a mammoth total of 219 runs on the board for the loss of two wickets. Rabada had an extremely bad day at the office and most importantly, he lost the streak of going wicket-less for 25 consecutive matches was broken. He conceded 54 runs in his four overs while the rest of the Delhi bowlers were expensive too.
DC batsmen weren’t comfortable chasing a big total as Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed on a golden duck and the move of promoting Marcus Stoinis also failed. At 14/2 after two overs, and then, Shimron Hetmyer and Ajinkya Rahane crawled through for a 40-run stand but failed to up the ante, and soon after the powerplay, Rashid Khan dismissed them both.
ALSO READ: Twitterati Erupted As Warner And Saha Left The DC bowlers Flabergasted
Rashid ended up with his IPL career-best figures of 3/7 in his four overs as Axar Patel was his third scalp as he also joint-second fewest runs in four overs in IPL history ever. Rishabh Pant tried his best to play his shots but DC had no momentum to their innings at any stage. The southpaw only managed to score 36 off 35 deliveries with three fours and a six and the contest was ended way before. SRH’s every bowler bowled well to bundle out the opposition for just 131 winning the game by a huge margin of 88 runs.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
That loss against #KXIP while chasing 126 is hurting #SRH more than any other loss thus far. Injuries haven’t helped either. With the top teams on a losing spree, 14 points might just be the magical number for a team or two.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 27, 2020
What a spell khan Sahib 👏@rashidkhan_19 #IPL2020
— Yuzvendra Chahal (@yuzi_chahal) October 27, 2020
@rashidkhan_19 should be banned!! Insane figure. #rashidkhan #SRHvsDC
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) October 27, 2020
What a spell Lala @rashidkhan_19 champion bowler 👏👏👏 3 for 7 Congratulations @IPL @SunRisers vs @DelhiCapitals
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 27, 2020
Have seen @Wriddhipops hit the ball like this even before when he has opened
Why don't we consider him for white ball cricket? 🤔#SRHvsDC pic.twitter.com/jVU3gFpuZd
— Vinod Kambli (@vinodkambli349) October 27, 2020
@Wriddhipops bhai 🔥🔥🔥👏👏👌💫 @IPL top knock 😊🙌
— Rahul Sharma (@ImRahulSharma3) October 27, 2020
These teams who have spent so long in the bottom half of the Dream11 IPL table just won't go quietly into the night. Brilliant!!!!
— Ian bishop (@irbishi) October 27, 2020
Yahi hai right choice baby, Saha !
Amazing hitting. Enjoyed @Wriddhipops brilliant knock.#SRHvsDC
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 27, 2020
Very smart batting by @Wriddhipops!
Improvised his shots after picking the line and length of the ball. There was no slogging at all. Played a fantastic innings which I thoroughly enjoyed watching.#SRHvDC #IPL2020
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 27, 2020
Wind out of the @DelhiCapitals sails? Need to come back soon. Last 3 games have been losses by huge margins. And have to play RCB and MI!
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 27, 2020
