XtraTime Web Desk: Sunrisers Hyderabad registered their first victory in this year’s IPL as they beat Delhi Capitals by 15 runs.
Batting first, Hyderabad put up a decent total of 162 runs. Credit goes to Bairstow for scoring 53 of 48 balls and Kane Williamson for his quick 41 runs of 26 balls.
Hyderabad controlled the game in the second innings. Didn’t give any space to Delhi batsmen. Rashid Khan bowled brilliantly and finished his 4 over quota conceding just 14 runs and took 3 very important wickets of Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
It is because of this three crucial wickets in the middle, Rashid Khan was handed the Man of the Match award. When he was asked about his temperament, Rashid said, “I don’t put pressure on myself, I just keep myself calm and composed and focus on what I can do. I just go out there and do the basics right. I bowled quicker today, when I started and bowled my first ball, I realized it. You need two three balls to know what the right pace is. In these conditions you need to bowl back of a length to the batsmen.”
Rashid also added how his captain backs him and guides the team in the correct direction. “Warner always backs me and tells me that you know what’s best for the team. That’s what we discuss on the field.”
Speaking about his family back in Afghanistan, Rashid became a bit nostalgic. He said, “Tough one and a half years for me, first my dad expired and it took a bit of time for me to come back. My mom was my biggest fan. This award goes to them. When I sued to win an award, whole night she used to talk to me.”
The winning captain David Warner in the post match conference backed his bowlers and appreciated their efforts. He said, “Unfortunately Mitch Marsh was injured and we had to figure out how to get overs in but young Abhishek Sharma came in. We have been working really hard in our training with the death bowling, and today they were fantastic because they can be called up at any stage.”
The batting needs to keep going for Sunrisers. Otherwise they won’t be able to win crucial matches coming up. Speaking about that Warner said, “We need a bit of luck with the bat, around ten of them found the fielders. But in this heat, running does take a toll. I did hit some good shots, and I told the analyst that it only found the fielders.”
Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer had no problem to chase 160 whatsoever. He appreciated Hyderabad for their win and spoke about the factors that led them lose the match. Speaking in the post match conference, Iyer said, “I think we were happy with 160 to chase. It was a par score. They knew the pitch better than us. They outplayed us, credit to them. It was really surprising that it played two-paced in the second innings. We thought dew would play a massive role and the ball would come on well, but yeah we can’t give excuses at this time. We didn’t capitalise on the ground dimension and take doubles. We will make sure we do when we play here next.”