"Third Man" - your truly, Kannan
Qualifier 2: SRH vs DC at Abhu Dhabi, 8th November 2020
Toss: Shreyas, the Delhi skipper, won the crucial toss and decided to bat first having made 2 fine changes - Prithvi and Sam out and the talented Hetmeyer and the leggie Pravin Dube coming in. SRH stuck to the same combination with Saha hamstring tear keeping him out.
Finally, after many years of promise and optimism, Delhi Capitals are into their maiden finals, defeating SRH by 17, runs, which is a big victory for the franchise keeping faith on the young team led from the front by shreyas Iyer. Sun Risers had a remarkable comeback from no where by beating Mumbai comprehensively at the league phase to enter the play off, edging past RCB in a close game in the eliminator, and bowing down to the Daring Delhi fighting till the end in today's do or die encounter.
Change in Strategy, change in opening:
With the starts being horrendous in past few games, Delhi, coached by the Legend Ponting, choose for a change in opening partner for Dhawan by going for Stoinis, being the in form player. The change in the strategy produced the biggest power play score for DC in this season as they raced to 65/0 in 6 overs with Stoinis cutting loose with boundaries and Dhawan striking it beautifully. The partnership of 86 in 8 overs set the tone and the confidence for the batsman to follow on a wonderful batting wicket.
When Stoinis (38 of 27 balls) was done in by a quicker one from Rashid, the damage was already done. Perhaps, Rashid should have been in bit earlier to break the partnership, something which Warner missed to do.
Dhawan wokes up again, Hetmeyer plays a blinder to set a huge target of 190:
Shikar and Shreyas carefully played out Rashid Khan without giving him anymore wicket and scoring 6 per over, meticulously executing the plan against him. Dhawan looked again in splendid touch driving, cutting and sweeping with authority, registering yet another 50 of just 26 balls - taking his tally in this series to 600 runs. DC's fortune in this tournament has directly proportional to Shikar's success with the bat and he proved what a big match player he is striking at the right time, similar to his success for Team India whenever he plays in a world tournament.
Hetmeyer, the talented West Indian left hander, repayed the faith shown by the Capitals think tank by accelerating towards the death overs with a fine 42 of just 22 balls and taking them closer to the 200 run barrier.
Natarajan and co pull back things in final overs:
It must be praise worthy of the brilliant comback in the last 2 overs, especially the final over from Natarajan, where he relentlessly bowled Yorker after Yorker and restricted Delhi to 189 by giving just 7 runs.
Yet again Stoinis, this time with the ball:
Sun risers hopes of a big Innings from Warner didn't materialise as he left early getting cleaned by Rabada for just 2 runs. Stoinis had the ball in hand and in no time he produced moment of magic sending back the talented priyam Garg and the mainstay Manish Pandey leaving SRH reeling at 44/3 in 5 overs.
Yet again it has to be Williamson and Holder to due the rescue act for the Hyderabad Franchise
Williamson, Samad keeps the hope alive:
Williamson, yet again rising up to the occassion, continuing from where he left in the previous match, by playing a amazing innings striking it cleanly and driving it with grace and elegance. The down the track six of Axar and the pick up shot to clear Rabada over the mid-wicket was delight for cricket lovers - The game was on as long as this man was at the wicket.
The breezy 57 Partnership for the 5th wicket with the unknown Abdul samad, who demonstrated his batting skills on the big stage, took the game deep and it was set for a tight finish. Samad,( 33 of 16), took on Nortje, the quickest bowler of this tournament, in the 15th over by nonchalantly pulling him over the mid-wicket boundary, straight out of the books of Ricky ponting, followed by consecutive boundaries through the off side - This over swung the match towards SRH with 43 needed from 22 balls, not impossible with the duo out in the middle..
Stoinis seals the Match, Rabada parties with triple strike & 4 for to regain purple cap:
Just when things were going good, cometh the hour, cometh the man - Stoinis returns to the bowling crease and snaps ups the big fish Williamson by bowling a wide slower one which Kane couldn't meet with the sweet spot and holed out to deep cover for a well constructed 67 of 45 balls - SRH almost bags the ticket to the finals.
Rabada, who was off colour in last few matches, returned to bowl the 19th over and snaps up three wickets, closing the game in favour of the DC and celebrating by snatching the purple cap again from Bumrah with 29 wickets. It was the turn of another South African Nortje to do the formalities by bowling a tight final over - Finishing the Sun Risers campaign to the finals.
Where did SRH lose the match?
A deep dive in to the reason and the margin of the defeat would show that the below par act on the field - misfields, overthrows, droped catches, especially the one for Stoinis, cost SRH the match while Delhi rose to the occasion stopping numerous boundaries and snapping the catches ended up on the sides of victory.
"Delhi grabs the ticket to Dubai to play the Mighty 4 times champion Mumbai "
10th November, will it be a historic day for the Capitals or 5th championship for the Majestic Mumbai led by the talisman "hit"man??
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