The Delhi Capitals found a way around a Kane Williamson masterclass to make it four wins out of five games this season while the Sunrisers Hyderabad slipped to the path of loss once again.
The Capitals struggled to take the game completely away from the Sunrisers and could post only 159 runs on the board.
However, the pitches at the MA Chidambaram Stadium have shown it to be enough to challenge the sides chasing and the story could not have been more similar except the incredible batting from Kane Williamson.
Captains’ views
Discussing the loss against the Capitals, the Sunrisers skipper David Warner said that the bowling attack put their hands up and brought the team back in the game after an average powerplay.
Warner lauded Vijay Shankar for being accurate with the ball and helping the side stem the flow of runs in his three-over spell.
Warner also commended the duo of Kane Williamson and Jonny Bairstow for providing the team platforms to go for the win albeit they fell short in the super over.
The Sunrisers Hyderabad made a tough call of dropping Manish Pandey and however Warner rated the call as ‘harsh,’ he put the onus on selectors for the decision. He also came in defence of young Virat Singh who failed to get going and put pressure on Williamson.
“It's a tough one. I thought the way the bowlers came back after the powerplay was fantastic. Vijay is not one of our strike bowlers, but he was fantastic. Johnny at the top and Kane batted deep but... It's on the selectors. Harsh call (dropping Manish Pandey). You can't discredit Virat. They bowled fantastically in the middle and brought it back. If you hit the ball to a world-class fielder, you get run-out nine times out of ten,” Warner said to the host broadcaster Star.
Rishabh Pant was not well to come for the post-match presentation and hence the stand-in captain Shikhar Dhawan came to address the questions posed at his team.
Dhawan said that the game turned out to be far more thrilling than it should have been. However, he conceded that Kane Williamson’s class almost took the game away from them albeit there was ample help for the bowlers in the wicket.
The Capitals will move to Ahmedabad for their next round of games this season and Dhawan said that the pitches there are likely to be more batting-friendly than the ones at the Chepauk.
“Absolutely, a thrilling game. It shouldn't have gone to the Super Over. We should have done it easily. But, it's part of the game. It was very tough to bat especially after the powerplay. It was turning and holding. Kane Williamson played a very good knock, he's a champion player, but good to win it in the end. Those little things [one short] make a huge impact and we got an edge over that and we ended up winning the game. Glad the Ahmedabad wicket will be better than this one,” Dhawan said in the post-match presentation.
Experts’ views
Considered as one of the prominent voice of the game, Harsha Bhogle had put all his weight behind Kane Williamson, who he said is being treated as ‘Kane Mama.’
However, he also called for support from Vijay Shankar and Abhishek Sharma, which never arrived and it left Williamson with a lot to do.
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra brought a piece of the stat around teams not winning even a single game when the captain has got dismissed by the mode of run out.
Chopra also reminded the viewers that the power to call a short run was given to the third umpire before this season and it worked wonders as the Sunrisers skipper ran a short run in the super over.
Cricket analyst Ben Jones commended both Williamson and Bairstow for batting with amazing ease on a surface where other batsmen fought hard to time the ball. He said that while Williamson batted beautifully without offering too many opportunities to dismiss him to the opposition, Bairstow bated with absolute supremacy.
Going by the same analysis, he wondered the reasons as to why the Sunrisers did not opt for the duo to do the job in the super over.
Jones also lamented Virat Singh for playing as poorly as it gets on the big stage of IPL.
The Capitals would be elated to get back at the top of the points table with the narrowest of wins over the Sunrisers. However, they would be the first one to admit that the four wins don’t paint a true picture of the level of their performances so far in this season.
On the other hand, the Sunrisers Hyderabad have sunk further in the standings of the 14th edition of the IPL. They are running against time and will need to win seven from the remaining nine games to have a chance to make it to the playoff.