Abhishek Sharma shines with a scintillating century as all-round SRH too good for DC
SRH – 242/2 (Abhishek Sharma 135* off 68 balls) beat DC – 195/9 (Eshan Malinga 32/4 off 4 overs) by 47 runs
Man of the Match: Abhishek Sharma
The IPL match between SRH and DC was expected to be a battle between the explosive SRH top order and DC’s all-round bowling attack, and it was Abhishek who took SRH home with a brilliant century. His innings showed signs of a maturing batsman who has all the shots in the book and is willing to take responsibility to play a big innings rather than be satisfied with attractive cameos. The inexperienced SRH bowling lineup, led by an inspired performance from Eshan Malinga, ensured that they managed to restrict the opposition and secure a comfortable victory by 47 runs.
DC have won all their tosses this year and elected to field, while SRH have lost all of theirs and have been put to bat first. This match was no different. However, if there is one team that would not mind being put to bat first on a good batting surface, it would be SRH. With their strong top order, they would fancy putting up a score that would be beyond the reach of any other team, dew or not.
Travishek keeps going and going
The opening partnership between Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma set the tone of the match and put up a wonderful platform. The opening overs included an over by Nitish Rana, who bowled his part-time offspinners against the two left-handers. His first over was good enough, conceding only six runs. The score at the end of 4 overs read 36/0. Good score, but nothing extraordinary on a good batting deck. Axar Patel, the DC captain, tried to push his luck by giving another over to Nitish Rana.
This time, Abhishek got the measure of his bowling and launched the first ball over wide long off, and the second ball was hoicked over long on boundary for sixes. Head, who had been more sedate so far, also joined in the fun and stepped out to hammer a six over long on in the same over. The score at the end of the power play was 67/0, and both the openers were looking increasingly dangerous.
DC were not at their best on the field. Abhishek got his 50 off 25 balls with a couple against Axar, but should have been run out while taking the risky second run, had the keeper Rahul held on to the ball while breaking the stumps after a throw from the deep. He immediately celebrated by depositing the ball high into the sightscreen straight over the bowler’s head. Travis Head swung another of Axar’s balls over the long on boundary with immense power, and SRH were up and running now. But next ball, he flat batted a half tracker straight to deep midwicket and was dismissed for 37 off 26 balls. The opening partnership was worth 97 runs off 8.5 overs.
Ishan and Klaasen join the party
Ishan Kishan has been in tremendous form, and he joined Abhishek to consolidate on a great start. He started teeing off in Kuldeep’s second over, stepping out to hit a full delivery over long on for a six, sweeping a leg side ball on the long leg boundary and absolutely clubbing one straight back at the bowler for another four. Same over, Abhishek also stepped out to hit one over extra cover for a six. The over went for 22 runs, and Kuldeep ended his night with 30/0 in 2 overs. It would be a cause of concern for DC and also for fans of Indian cricket that Kuldeep has been repeatedly hit out of the attack and has been unable to complete his quota of 4 overs in this tournament.
With wickets remaining, the pacers too came under pressure. Natarajan tried bowling full and wide and almost managed to get Abhishek’s wicket as he threw his bat and managed to slice towards deep backward point, but Rana spilled a chance that needed to be taken. It wasn’t the easiest of chances, but it should have been taken once the fielder had made good ground to reach the ball in the first place. Score at the end of 14 overs was 160/1. The main spinners being taken for runs, and with two lefties batting, DC again decided to at least go for the favourable match-up of Rana’s off-spin. His 3rd over had gone for only 6 runs, and it was worth a try, despite his expensive 2nd over.
Abhishek was on 92 and did not miss his chance. Two consecutive sixes, one straight over the bowler and one drag down ball pulled over the square leg boundary brought his century off 47 balls. He finished on 135 off 68 balls and hit 10 sixes and 10 fours. A four was conceded next ball by a Stubbs midfield to an Abhishek straight drive. But Rana showed great composure and shrewdness as he expertly deflected an Abhishek straight drive towards the stump to catch Ishan, who had backed up too far, short of his crease. The eventful over was not done yet as Abhishek clobbered another six over the long off boundary and Nitish Rana finished at 55/0 off 4 overs.
The pacers Ngidi and Natarajan bowled admirably under the circumstances, keeping the ball away from the batsmen’s arc along with a heady mixture of slower balls. With Abhishek tiring a bit, Klaasen took the hitting responsibility. A cute reverse scoop off a Natarajan full ball for four was followed by two muscular shots over deep extra cover for six in Ngidi’s next over. 20 runs were scored in the last over bowled by Mukesh, and SRH finished on a massive 242/2. Klaasen had scored 37 off 13 balls, including 3 fours and 3 sixes, and he had looked increasingly fluent as the tournament had gone on.
DC starts with intent
The DC batting unit knew that they had a steep slope to climb and started aggressively. Two identical swings off full deliveries for six over deep midwicket were played in the first 2 overs by both Rahul and Nissanka. But Nissanka, trying to be attacking, slapped a Madusanka length delivery straight to mid off and SRH had their first wicket at 2.1 overs with the score reading 21. The next incoming batsman, Nitish Rana, kept the same approach as he took full toll of a Nitish Reddy over. A cut short for a boundary later, he slammed a length delivery over deep extra cover for six. The next ball was also smashed over the bowler for four, and 16 runs were scored off that over. Rahul was dropped off a difficult caught and bowled chance by Malinga, and the next ball was clobbered for a straight six. The powerplay score was 59/1, and DC were not going to go without a fight.
Shivang Kumar, with his left-arm wrist spin, came to bowl the eighth over and was taken for 19 runs, including a couple of sixes and a four to Nitish Rana, a reputed spin hitter. It was starting to drizzle a bit, and a 12-run Nitish Reddy over later; they were 98/1 and actually ahead in the DLS score by 1 run.
SRH bowlers strike back
The tenth over was bowled by Sakib Hussain, and he started with his mixture of pace off and cutters. A filthy full toss was hit by Rahul straight to deep square leg, and DC were back behind the par score. Rahul had scored 37 off 23 balls. Sameer Rizvi was the next batsman in. Malinga bowled next over and got Rana hoicking up towards long on, where Abhishek Sharma took a good running catch. The next ball was a beauty as David Miller, facing his first ball, saw his leg stump sent back. Malinga ran around the ground, overjoyed, seeing the in-form batsman back to the hut without scoring.
With three wickets in five balls, the required run rate, which had been hovering around 13, started to creep up. Sameer Rizvi fought hard, but the required rate was 17.6 by the 15th over. Stubbs tried and connected a few reverse scoops, but tried one too many and provided a simple catch to short third man off Malinga, who finished with 4 wickets for 32 runs off his 4 overs. Sakib, at the other end, also bowled superbly, deceiving batsmen with his cutters and managing to stop the scoring rate. Harsh Dubey bowled the last over as the batsmen tried slogging every ball and finished with 3 cheap wickets in the outfield.
DC batsmen tried till the end, but the score was just too much. However, questions would be asked about the fielding and bowling, especially the way their spinners have been bowling. For SRH, the win was set up by their star batsman Abhishek Sharma, and they also defended well with their largely inexperienced bowling attack.