David Warner got the best of Sunrisers Hyderabad for the first time since being released last year, hitting 92 off 58 balls as Delhi Capitals won by a comfortable margin at Brabourne Stadium on Thursday (May 5).
After being asked to bat, Warner and Rovman Powell, who was even more destructive in their fourth-wicket stand of 122, helped the Capitals to a dangerous score of 207/3.
The Sunrisers fell behind the rate too early in the chase, leaving Nicholas Pooran with a lot to do, and finally lost by 21 runs.
Warner Show
Warner had a new opening partner against Sunrisers Hyderabad, with Mandeep Singh earning his first chance of the season in the absence of Prithvi Shaw.
Delhi has made four lineup changes, with this being one of them. But Mandeep didn’t survive long. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s wicket-maiden in the first over sent the Capitals reeling.
Warner, on the other hand, made sure they didn’t lose any ground in the powerplay. After a slow start, Umran Malik exploded for 21 runs in the fourth over, including two fours and a six from Warner.
While Malik was speedy, he couldn’t get those deliveries high enough to concern Warner, who easily swiveled over and despatched it behind square.
Along with the pull shots, Warner was brutal on the wide, which the Sunrisers continued to give him.
Three of his seven boundaries in the powerplay were pull shots, while four came off full and wide deliveries that allowed him to release his arms, according to Cricbuzz ball-by-ball data.
As a result, the Capitals were 50/2 after six overs.
Warner Powell Destructive Batsman
Pant hit 6, 6, 6, 4 in the ninth over against Shreyas Gopal, who was making his SRH debut, before pulling a wide full toss off the inside edge onto his stumps with the final delivery of the over.
Rovman Powell came out to bat after Pant’s wicket.
Powell went on to show what he could accomplish when given extra time in the middle, batting higher than normal after encouraging his captain to trust him.
Warner took over from the other end as he sped through his fifty and kept the boundaries flowing from over 10-15, allowing the Jamaican power-hitter to play himself in.
Powell was also handed a life when he crunched a full Malik delivery straight to mid-off, but the ball burst out of Williamson’s hands after rocketing to him. But now that everything was out of the way, Powell went all out on the Sunrisers. He went from 21 off his first 19 balls to 67* off 35 balls. The final over was the pinnacle of that assault.
Powell hit three fours and a six against Umran Malik’s thunderbolts, the fastest of which was bowled at 157kph, as the 20th over went for 21, ending the innings on a high note.
With the exception of Bhuvneshwar, who finished with numbers of 1/25, all of the bowlers struggled greatly.
