DC vs SRH: Dhawan, Stoinis, Rabada propel Delhi Capitals into maiden IPL final

Brief scores: 

Delhi Capitals 189/3 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 78, Shimron Hetmyer 42*; Rashid Khan 1-26) 

beat 

Sunrisers Hyderabad 172/8 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 67; Kagiso Rabada 4-29, Marcus Stoinis 3-26) by 17 runs.

Delhi Capitals enrolled themselves into their maiden grand finale as Sunrisers Hyderabad bit off more than they could chew, spilling 189 before bidding adieu to the glistening sliverware by 17 runs in spite of Kane Williamson's lone-ranging 67. November 10th bestows the summit clash between Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians, the one last squeeze of the ointment that has nursed the wounds of 2020 and made human life a little less miserable. 

Not the best of birthday presents for Shaw

DC finally ran out of patience with Prithvi Shaw as Shimron Hetmyer jumped on board. Presentor Mark Nicholas split into a barrel of laughs with captain Shreyas Iyer forgetting who had replaced the young right-hander. David Warner arrived to his counterpart's rescue. Thankfully, he remembered Praveen Dubey cracking the nod ahead of Daniel Sams. Just for the record, SRH refrained from any tinkling of personnel. Why fix something which ain't broken?

Stoinis punt works like a charm

The brains at DC pulled the rabbit out of the hat as Marcus Stoinis climbed up the ladder, his horsepower best utilised at the top of the pecking order. And boy they'd have heaved a huge sigh of relief at the spectacle of a zero in the wicket bar at the end of the PowerPlay. SRH could've drawn first blood had Jason Holder, stationed at catching mid-on exactly for the reckless flick, blew the tough chance when it actually came off Stoinis' willow. Barring that solitary lapse in concentration, the left-right combo was a force to be reckoned with. Stoinis deployed those brawny wrists into action the moment Sandeep Sharma veered on to the pads before ransacking Jason Holder for 18 in the 4th over. 4,0,4,0,4,6 he screamed with a bat that bore a passing resemblance to a butcher's knife. Dhawan welcomed Shahbaz Nadeem in the attack with a merciless slaughter over deep mid-wicket and a club through fine leg as DC galloped warp speed to 65/6 inside the circle.

SRH won't throw in the towel

Given the rocket launch DC held at their disposal, they'd now killed two birds with one stone. They'd not only laid the bricks for the ensuing batsmen to wreak havoc but also created some room to breathe against arch-nemesis Rashid Khan, who'd nabbed three scalps apiece in the league encounters against DC while granting an overall tally of just 21 runs. Yet the cookie crumbled as Stoinis misread a leggie for a googly and lost his off-stump. Dhawan soaked in the applause of his maiden fifty in a playoff tie but Shreyas Iyer, lately a victim of the conversion bug, slapped a loft down mid-off's throat to leave DC in the lurch at 126/2 after 14 overs.

Shimron Hetmyer exclaimed 'thank you very much' as he waltzed off the mark with a cold-blooded swat to Nadeem's full-toss, setting the seal on the left-arm's jagged day at the office which read 48 for none. DC have scored at an inadequate 9.63 in between overs 16-20 hitherto, the second-worst with their opposition languishing at rock bottom. The glass ceiling remained intact tonight as well with an okayish 44 in the last four despite Holder splurging a quadruple of boundaries in the 18th to bow out for an atrocious 4-0-50-1.

Tongue firmly in cheek, DC underachieve

Rashid Khan muffed an absolute dolly to reprieve Dhawan towards the fag end but the ace opener committed harakiri for good measure. Unorthodoxy has never been his cup of tea, but his love affair for delicate reverse paddles and scoops has stood the test to time. Sandeep Sharma's rank full-toss, which should've ideally landed in the grass banks over cow corner, beat the adventures of a cross-gripped nudge to ping Dhawan on the knee roll. The umpire was quick to raise his finger but replays suggested the impact was a good inch and a half outside the off-pole. Why did the southpaw accepted his fate with a review in tow lies beyond the realms of human understanding. That too at such a pivotal juncture in the context of the match. No wonder SRH sneaked away without a ball reaching the fence in the ultimate two. Hetmyer flexed his muscles to ding a quickfire 42 but even he couldn't get a hang of Thangarasu Natarajan's yorker barrage towards the fag end.

Hyderabad spring a surprise too

Plucking a leaf out of their rival's book, SRH too pigeonholed Priyam Garg to the opening slot with a license to go for the jugular. If someone was still weighing the pros and cons of the orange army's gamble, a rip-roaring sweep off Ravichandran Ashwin cleared the air. Next in store was the fiercest of all rivalries, David Warner vs Kagiso Rabada. Much to the chagrin of the thousands of eyes levelled onto the idiot box, it lasted a single ball. A banana inswinger swirling into Warner's toes and ricocheting off the boot to kiss the zing bails alight.

Stoinis could do no wrong tonight

Garg hooked Anrich Nortje's valiant attempt at hustling the rookie with sheer pace, and hence it was ironic that Marcus Stoinis' military-medium shooter eventually got the better of him, furniture disrupted to a pile of rubble. The golden bat transformed into golden arm with Manish Pandey's number, an across-the-line heave recording neither timing nor elevation. SRH could feel the earth thudding beneath their feet, with the digital screens painting a sorry picture of 44/3.

Williamson steadies the sinking ship

The asking rate was shooting for the stars and all of SRH's hopes were pinned on the messiahs from the other day, Jason Holder and Kane Williamson. Though the former couldn't lend a helping hand, skewing a baseball swing to cow corner, his colleague stayed true to his reputation. The street-smartness was put on gallery with a dab to Axar Patel as long leg chased in vain while Praveen Dubey tasted international flavour courtesy a shimmie and boom into the sight-screen. Rabada, Axar and Stoinis licked their wounds as Williamson sent each packing for elegant maximums, dwarfing the equation to 77 off the last six overs.

No prizes for guessing, Stoinis gets the big fish

The zen-master found an able ally in Abdul Samad, who roundhoused a short-arm jab over square leg before peeling consecutive boundaries off Anrich Nortje's 15th. 61 off 30, in the balance, tantalizingly poised. Iyer's ploys came under the scanner as Ashwin had a whooping three overs remaining at this point, and stocking up his services for the death would be an idea fraught with danger. The premier off-break ticked another in the 16th, conceding 10 to midget the necessity to 51 off 24. The man with the midas touch, Stoinis resurged for his second burst and immediately turned the game on its head. He missed the tramline by a whisker but the space allowed saw Williamson flaying his blade to locate sweeper cover to precision. In a crude nutshell, that was the instant where Delhi collected the boarding pass for their flight to the finals.

Rabada applies the finishing touches

42 off 18 was reduced to 30 off 12 by Rashid Khan's glamour, and further to 23 off 10 by Samad's belter over mid-wicket, but Rabada brought his quality to the fore in the pressure-cooker atmosphere. Samad, Rashid and keeper Shreevats Goswami departed in the quest of transcending the rope as the pace demon locomoted to 29 wickets, next best to Dwayne Bravo's 32 on the list of the highest wickets in an IPL season. Notwithstanding Samad's valiant 16-ball 33, Rabada's triple whammy had drawn curtains on SRH's vigil with an improbable 22 required off Nortje's eventual.

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