Sunrisers Hyderabad extended their lead at the top of the table, as they defeated Delhi Daredevils by nine wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.
Delhi, on the other hand, slumped to another disappointing loss and their hopes of finishing in the top four also got shattered.
Delhi Daredevils won the toss and chose to bat first. The decision seemed to have backfired in the initial stage of the innings, as their top three batsmen failed miserably.
However, the team rode on the back of a fantastic hundred (128*) by homeboy Rishabh Pant. Pant became the second youngest batsman to score an IPL century. He completed his hundred in just 56 deliveries.
Pant single-handedly took his team’s total to a competitive total of 187/5 in their quota of 20 overs. His century was the 50th century in the IPL history.
However, Pant’s efforts went in vain, courtesy of a winning knock by another Delhi boy, Shikhar Dhawan.
Dhawan scored an unbeaten 92 off just 50 deliveries. With this win, Sunrisers Hyderabad secured a place in the 2018 IPL play-offs. Dhawan got equally supported by his captain, Kane Williamson who also scored an unbeaten half-century and finished on 83 off just 53 balls.
Delhi’s captain Shreyas Iyer expressed his disappointment after the loss. Here is what he said in the post-match presentation.
I think it was a brilliant total to get on this wicket. Because the start we got was really disheartening. I think towards the end,, the ball was coming nicely onto the bat. The wicket played well towards the end. Was a two-paced wicket. We didn’t get many opportunities to get them out. So they played well. (On being out of contention for play-offs) There’s always hope to carry into the next season. It’s going to be really important as youngsters that we get along in the coming games. It will give us a boost for the next year.