As it happened | IPL 2019, Eliminator: Delhi beat Hyderabad by 2 wickets
Rishabh Pant. Photograph: (PTI)
<p>Eliminator clash between Delhi and Hyderabad</p>Key Updates
08 May 2019, 11:22 PM (IST)
Delhi win the match...
Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi defeated Hyderabad to enter the Qualifier 2 of Indian Premier League 2019.
Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant played a match-winning inning as Delhi chased down a 163-run target.
It became difficult for Delhi in the death overs when they lost wickets in quick successions but Keemo Paul scored the winning runs after an eventful last over.
Earlier, Delhi bowlers pulled the plug in the middle overs, restricting Hyderabad to a par score of 162 for 8 on a good batting surface.
Keemo Paul (3/32 in 4 overs) was ably supported by Amit Mishra (1/16 in 4 overs), Ishant Sharma (2/34 in 4 overs) and Axar Patel (0/30 in 4 overs) as the quartet bowled 40 dot balls between them.
Ishant got rid of Wriddhiman Saha (8), who offered a simple catch to Shreyas Iyer at mid-off.
Martin Guptill (36, 19 balls) hit three sixes including two off his countrymate Trent Boult to set the pace in the Powerplay overs which yielded 54 runs.
Credit to Delhi bowlers as the next 14 overs produced only 108 runs.
As Guptill was in attacking mood, it gave the normally flamboyant Manish Pandey (30, 36 balls) to play around before the spinners came in operation.
Axar and Mishra choked the run-flow and Guptill was accounted for trying to slog sweep the leg-spinner. His innings had four sixes apart from a boundary.
Hyderabad suddenly lost momentum in those middle overs as Pandey and Kane Williamson (27 off 26 balls) added only 34 runs in seven overs before the Karnataka batsman was dismissed by a Keemo Paul slower delivery.
Pandey was holed out by Sherfane Rutherford at long-on boundary making it 90 for 3 for Hyderabad.
Ishant coming in his second spell bowled the perfect inswinging yorker to send back Williamson.
Vijay Shankar (25 off 11 balls) and Mohammed Nabi (20 off 13 balls) added 36 runs in 2.4 overs to beef up the total but Paul kept things tight in the end.
08 May 2019, 7:21 PM (IST)
What the captains are saying:
Shreyas Iyer: We practised yesterday and there was dew - it is an added advantage. We are going to treat it as another game. But it is a playoff and the players are nervous. It is good to be nervous because it gets the best out of yourself. I believe everyone was enthusiastic in practise yesterday to come and perform, you saw that with how eager I was to flip the coin. We are looking forward to this game.
Kane Williamson: We have to see how it plays and assess the conditions as we go by. Obviously couple of players have left us, but at the end of the day the team has been playing some good cricket, just not quite getting across the line. So important for us to make that step up today.
08 May 2019, 7:10 PM (IST)
Toss:
Delhi win toss, opt to bowl first.
Playing XI:
Delhi: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Colin Munro, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Sherfane Rutherford, Axar Patel, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Trent Boult
Hyderabad: Wriddhiman Saha(w), Martin Guptill, Manish Pandey, Kane Williamson(c), Vijay Shankar, Mohammad Nabi, Deepak Hooda, Rashid Khan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, K Khaleel Ahmed, Basil Thampi
08 May 2019, 7:10 PM (IST)
Stats and Facts:
Seven of the 11 IPL matches played at the ACA-VDCA Stadium in Visakhapatnam have been won by the team batting first.
The Delhi have a 3-2 win-loss record batting first this season, while the Hyderabad have a 2-5 win-loss record batting first.
Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson has had a poor run with the coin this season; he has won only 2 tosses in the eight matches he has been Hyderabad captain this season.
08 May 2019, 7:09 PM (IST)
What to expect from the match:
The road to the final has become difficult but Delhi have the means to drive their way through the obstacles, starting with the IPL eliminator against Hyderabad.
Re-branded before the start of the 12th season of the Indian Premier League, Delhi have been one of the top sides in this edition, playing cricket never seen before from them.
It is a bit harsh on Delhi that they are playing the do-or-die game despite securing 18 points after nine wins and five losses from 14 matches.
Despite winning three matches more than Hyderabad, severely weakened by the departure of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow for their World Cup national camps, Delhi find themselves in the same boat as Hyderabad and a defeat will knock them out of the league.
The big loss to Chennai hurt them a lot.
For a while before that drubbing, Delhi battled for the top spot with three-time winners Chennai and Mumbai before finishing third at the end of league engagements.
Delhi have never reached the IPL final, never made the top-two, and ventured into the top-four for the first time since 2012.
Considering the results and consistency, it seemed Delhi search for that elusive winning combination has finally ended, which brought the smiles back on the faces of fans after years of disappointment.