Visakhapatnam, May 8
Young Keemo Paul gave the final touches to a Rishabh Pant blitzkrieg as Delhi Capitals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by two wickets in a nerve-wracking IPL Eliminator here today. Chasing a target of 163, Capitals lost the way after a blazing start. But they were brought to the cusp of victory by young Pant, who smashed 49 off 21 balls with five sixes before West Indies’ Paul finished it off on the penultimate ball with a boundary off Khaleel Ahmed.
Pant, who resurrected the innings from a precarious 111/5, couldn’t have chosen a better venue than chairman of selectors MSK Prasad’s home ground to drive home a point on his much debated World Cup exclusion.
It was a sense of deja vu for Paul, who had similarly hit the winning runs in the U-19 World Cup final in 2016 when Ahmed was the bowler in the final over. Delhi now face Chennai Super Kings in the second Qualifier in their bid to make it to the IPL final for the first time.
Needing 34 from three overs, Pant showed brilliant game awareness to target Sunrisers’ weakest link Basil Thampi, smashing him for 21 runs in the 18th over as he brought the game on even keel. — PTI
SCOREBOARD
Sunrisers Hyderabad
Runs Balls 4 6
W Saha c Iyer b Sharma 8 9 1 0
M Guptill c Paul b Mishra 36 19 1 4
M Pandey c Rutherford b Paul 30 36 3 0
K Williamson b Sharma 28 27 2 0
V Shankar c Patel b Boult 25 11 2 2
Mohammad Nabi c Patel b Paul 20 13 3 1
D Hooda run out (Pant) 4 4 0 0
R Khan c Pant b Paul 0 1 0 0
B Kumar not out 0 0 0 0
B Thampi not out 1 1 0 0
Extras: (lb 2, nb 1, w 7) 10
Total: (8 wickets; 20 overs) 162
FOW: 1-31, 2-56, 3-90, 4-111, 5-147, 6-160, 7-161, 8-161
Bowling O M R W
Trent Boult 3 0 37 1
Ishant Sharma 4 0 34 2
Axar Patel 4 0 30 0
Amit Mishra 4 0 16 1
Keemo Paul 4 0 32 3
Sherfane Rutherford 1 0 11 0
Delhi Capitals
Runs Balls 4 6
P Shaw c Shankar b Ahmed 56 38 6 2
S Dhawan st Saha b Hooda 17 16 3 0
S Iyer c Saha b Ahmed 8 10 1 0
R Pant c Nabi b Kumar 49 21 2 5
C Munro lbw b Khan 14 13 1 1
A Patel c Saha b Khan 0 3 0 0
S Rutherford c Nabi b Kumar 9 12 0 1
K Paul not out 5 4 1 0
A Mishra obstructing the field 1 2 0 0
T Boult not out 0 0 0 0
Extras: (b 1, w 5) 6
Total: (8 wickets; 19.5 overs) 165
FOW: 1-66, 2-84, 3-87, 4-111, 5-111, 6-151, 7-158, 8-161
Bowling O M R W
Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4 0 42 2
Mohammad Nabi 4 0 29 0
Khaleel Ahmed 2.5 0 24 2
Rashid Khan 4 1 15 2
Basil Thampi 4 0 41 0
Deepak Hooda 1 0 13 1
Player of the match: Rishabh Pant
If you are set on a wicket like this, you have to finish the match for your team. I took it very close, but next time I will finish it for the team... I just try to be positive. If your mindset is negative, it doesn’t help. Especially in T20s, you need 40 off 20 or so, then you have to attack one bowler. I don’t see who’s bowling. —Rishabh Pant, Man of the match
I can’t express my emotions. I was sitting and those last two overs were like a hell. An amazing feeling to win and I could see the happiness on everyone’s faces. The joy we share after winning was good. Looking forward to the next game. —Shreyas Iyer, Delhi captain
After the first half, we knew we would have to fight hard to defend this competitive total. After thier Powerplay, it was always going to be tricky. We’ve been in a similar position of strength in the past this season, and it was frustrating to not win. —Kane Williamson, Hyderabad captain
from The Tribune http://bit.ly/2VWi579
via Today’s News Headlines
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