The Delhi Capitals suffered their first defeat in IPL 2020 when they went down to the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening.
Chasing 163 for victory, the Capitals batsmen struggled to establish themselves in the middle and form any worthy partnerships as they fell 15 runs short in the end.
After losing the toss, Hyderabad was sent in to bat first and after weathering the early storm from bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Ishant Sharma, openers David Warner and Jonny Bairstow kicked on for a valuable 77-run stand.
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Bairstow brought up his half-century in the process and some constructive hitting by Kane Williamson towards the end of the innings helped Hyderabad to 162-4 in their 20 overs.
Rabada was once again the pick of the bowlers for his team and kept his spell as tidy as possible by finishing with figures of 2-21 in his four overs.
In reply, Delhi failed to get their innings going with star-opener Shikhar Dhawan departing for 34, while Rishabh Pant added only 32.
The late wickets of Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis and Axar Patel all but secured victory for Warner’s men as Delhi fell far behind the run rate in the final few overs.
Spinner Rashid Khan once again showed his talent and was the pick of the Hyderabad bowlers with three wickets for only 14 runs.
In the end, Delhi could only manage 147-7 in their 20 overs as Hyderabad claimed their very first victory of the competition.
