Delhi Capitals edge Sunrisers in super-over thriller

Delhi Capitals edge Sunrisers in super-over thriller

We finally witnessed the first super over of the 14th season of the Indian Premier League as the Delhi just edged out the Sunrisers Hyderabad in a nail-biting thriller. Both sides had chances to win the match within the 40 overs and the see-saw nature of the game during the final hour made for fantastic viewing. Needing 160 to win, SRH were dead in the water at 136-7 with 9 balls to spare but a fantastic cameo from J Suchith and a wonderful half-century from Kane Williamson took them within touching distance of victory. They needed 4 runs off the final three deliveries but crucially failed to meet bat on ball and ended up tying the game with three byes to send the game to a super over.

Surprisingly, SRH opted to use Warner and Williamson in the super-over ahead of the in-form Jonny Bairstow and managed to only score 7 runs off Axar Patel. Needing only 8 to win, DC chose to send in left-handers Shikhar Dhawan and Rishabh Pant to negate the threat of leg-spinner Rashid Khan. After taking two singles off the first two deliveries, Pant reverse scooped Rashid for a boundary over short third man to leave Delhi needing only two runs off the final three deliveries. The Capitals eventually got home with two leg-byes off the final two balls of the over to register their fourth victory of the season and second consecutive win in Chennai.

Delhi got off to a fantastic start in their first innings with Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan going after the SRH bowlers within the powerplay. The Capitals scored 80 runs within the first 10 overs before losing both openers in quick succession which slowed down their run rate. Eventually, Rishabh Pant and Steven Smith consolidated the innings and made valuable contributions to push Delhi to a winning total of 159.

Just like Delhi, SRH looked to make full use of the hard new ball and the field restrictions in the powerplay and scored 56 runs within the first 6. Bairstow, in particular, looked like he was batting on a different pitch and scored 38 runs at a strike rate above 200. The Delhi spinners pulled the game back through the middle overs with some quick wickets but Kane Williamson offered SRH hope with a well-compiled half-century. The Kiwi captain played with incredible touch and finesse on this challenging surface and took the game deep but cruelly fell one run short of victory as the Capitals were able to close out the game at the death and win the super-over shoot out.