Sanju Samson and Rishabh Pant combined for a 72-run fourth-wicket partnership as the Delhi Daredevils beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets on Thursday.
The young pair came together in the 11th over with their side on 78-3. They knuckled down and took the fight to the bowlers, making the run chase look easy as they put together 72 runs from 52 balls to win the match by with 11 balls to spare. The Daredevils need just two wins from their next four matches to qualify for the playoffs.
Openers Quinton de Kock and Mayank Argawal got the Dehli Daredevils off to a good start and found themselves at 20-0 after three overs. However, Argawal lost his wicket with the first ball of the fourth over, caught by Yuvraj Singh at extra cover off Ashish Nehra for just 10 runs from nine balls, with two fours.
Karun Nair and De Kock then put on a 55-run stand for the second wicket, before Nair was sent packing in the 10th over having scored 20 runs from 17 balls, with three fours.
De Kock was next to depart four balls later as he was judged to have edged the ball through to Nama OJha off the bowling of Moises Henriques. Sanju Samson, who scored 34 runs from 26 balls with two sixes, and Rishabh Pant, who scored 39 from 26 balls with two fours and three sixes, then combined for their 72-run stand for the fourth wicket as they guided the Daredevils to just their sixth win of the tournament.
Earlier, captain David Warner again got the Sunrisers Hyderabad off to a flyer as they raced to 67-0 in the ninth over. But that was as far as Warner went as he was bowled by Jayant Yadav, attempting to play the ball down to point, for 46 runs off 30 balls having hit six fours and one six.
Fellow opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan was next to go when he was caught at midwicket by Sanju Samson off the bowling of Amit Mishra for 34 runs from 37 balls, with just three fours. New Zealand’s Kane Williamson was the only other batsman to make a sizeable contribution to the total, but he fought a lone battle as the wickets tumbled around him at regular intervals.
Eventually he too was sent back to the dugout after being clean bowled by South Africa’s Chris Morris in the 19th over having scored 27 from 24 balls, with three fours. Morris was named Man of the Match, taking one wicket from his four overs conceding just 19 runs.
The Sunrisers managed eight runs from their last over as they set the Delhi Daredevils 147 for victory.
Photo: BCCI
