Agencies
Dubai, April 25
An unbeaten 128-run stand between Aaron Finch and David Warner powered Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 4-run victory over Delhi Daredevils in Dubai.
Chasing a daunting target of 185, Delhi enjoyed a superb start with the openers taking the side to 99 before Quinton de Kock was out for 48 and Murali Vijay (52) too followed him soon after.After that speedster Dale Steyn got rid of skipper Kevin Pietersen (16) and Dinesh Karthik (15) in successive deliveries of the 17th over to rattle Delhi’s chase.
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Needing 20 runs off the final over, the onus was on Manoj Tiwary and JP Duminy to take their side home but some quality death bowling by Hyderabad bowlers restricted Delhi to 180 for 4.
Opting to bat first, Aaron Finch (88) and David Warner (58) broke through the shackles with facile unbeaten fifties to help Sunrisers Hyderabad post an impressive 184 for one.
Hyderabad were stifled in the first half of the match before Finch and Warner put up an 128-run partnership to infuse life into their team’s effort which looked ordinary to start with.
Delhi, boosted by the return of their regular captain Kevin Pietersen, put up a decent performance with the ball in the first 10 overs with spinner Shahbaz Nadeem producing economical figures of 4-0-24-1.
However, Finch and Warner broke through following the dismissal of Hyderabad skipper Shikhar Dawan (33) to steer the team to a formidable total.
The Australian pair put together an unbroken second wicket stand, which came off 82 deliveries.
Finch was the more destructive of the two, smacking Jaydev Unadkat for 18 runs in just four deliveries of the 18th over, which yielded 21 in all. Unadkat was, in fact, the most expensive Delhi bowler, conceding 43 runs in his four-over quota.
In fact, barring Nadeem, all of Delhi’s bowlers came in for severe thrashing with strike pacer Mohammed Shami ending up with figures of 0/36 in his four overs.
Dhawan and Finch gave Hyderabad a steady start by collecting 56 runs for the first wicket. Even though the pace of scoring was not too high but it set the platform for Finch and Warner to go on a rampage.
While Finch struck eight fours and four sixes, Warner smashed three boundaries and an equal number of hits over the fence.
