The Delhi Daredevils won their first match in six to lift themselves off the bottom of the IPL standings with a six-wicket victory against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
It was a vital victory for the Daredevils, who still realistically need to win all five of their remaining matches to stand a chance of qualifying for the playoffs. It ended a barren run for the side, who lost their fifth match in a row on the weekend, when they went down to the Kings XI Punjab by 10 wickets.
It put a dent in the Sunrisers’ hopes of a top-two finish, remaining two points behind the Kolkata Knight Riders in third place. It ended a run of four wins in five matches, but they still remain well-placed in the standings.
After their crushing 61-run victory over KKR on Sunday, which saw David Warner hammer 126, they thought they were in with a good chance of victory at Feroz Shah Kotla, as Warner and Shikhar Dhawan amassed 49 inside the first five overs, before Yuvraj Singh struck 38 runs in the last three overs to get their side to 185-3.
It was a night to forget for Kagiso Rabada, who was on the receiving end of the Yuvraj blitz. He went for 20 runs in the 18th over and then another 19 off the last, to finish with figures of 0-59.
Warner scored 30 off 20 before he was bowled by a Mohammed Shami yorker, with Dhawan following for 28 off 17 balls. That was when the run-rate dropped as low as 7.5 to the over, with Williamson only managing 24 off as many balls.
The onslaught then came after Yuvraj was dropped on 29 by Sanju Samson on the boundary. Yuvraj went from 29 off 26 to 70 off 41, with 52 runs coming off the last three overs. Moises Henriques also played his part, scoring 25 off 18 balls.
The Daredevils’ batting has let them down all season, but they looked a different unit on Tuesday night, as they always kept themselves ahead of the game with a collection of classy strokes from their young Indian contingent. Samson and skipper Karun Nair scored 40 off the first four overs before Samson fell for 24 off 19, but Nair pushed on, despite getting dropped by Bhuvneshwar Kumar off the same over.
He hit 15 runs off the sixth over to strike up a 32-run stand with Risabh Pant. Nair fell for 39 off 20, but when one batsman departed, the next built on the foundations set. Pant contributed 34 off 20, and then Shreyas Iyer weighed in with 33 off 25.
Corey Anderson and Chris Morris still had some work to do, with the Daredevils requiring 38 off the last four overs, but the pair made it look easy. New Zealand all-rounder Anderson hit three sixes and two fours for his 41 off 23 balls, while Morris smashed 15 off just seven, as their 41-run stand ensured victory was sealed with five balls remaining.
Photo: Deepak Malik/IPL/Cricinfo
