SRH vs DC: Axar Patel’s all-round brilliance headlines Delhi Capitals’ win

“Love it here, it’s an amazing crowd, they always come here and support. Thanks for all the support. The game throws us challenges, for us, it’s great to get two points.”

It was a happy ‘homecoming’ for David Warner on Monday as his Delhi Capitals (DC) side got the better of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), his former side, in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Uppal.

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For Delhi Capitals, more than the batters, it was a collective effort from the bowlers that led them to victory, as they successfully defended a total of 144/9.

Time and again, Axar Patel has saved Delhi Capitals on numerous occasions, and Monday witnessed a similar story, with Axar’s all-round performance having a major say in DC’s second consecutive win this season.

DC opted to bat after winning the toss, but it was a run-a-ball 34 from Axar, along with Manish Pandey (34) that  led the Capitals to 144. Prithvi Shaw, the out-of-form youngster, was dropped in favour of England’s Phil Salt, but even then, Salt failed to get going, and was dismissed for a golden duck by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Most of the SRH batters seemed like they lacked confidence, as Anrich Nortje (2/33) and Axar Patel (2/21) ran riot, and Aiden Markram was right to point out SRH’s lack of intent in their batting.

Mayank Agarwal scored a39-ball 49 and Heinrich Klaasen played a 19-ball knock of 31, and time was running out for SRH before Washington Sundar (24* off 25 balls) could  try to do what Axar Patel did with the bat: Stand and deliver.

“Not good with the bat. Not enough intent, not excited to win a game of cricket unfortunately. We have to go back and see how we can be free and be better. It is difficult, you can say all the right things but guys have to buy into it.

“We want to play a certain brand of cricket and if we get it wrong doing that then we’ll sleep a lot better at night. Tonight we lacked intent, unfortunately we are letting us down because of a lack of intent,” Markram said at the presentation ceremony.

Washington Sundar’s triple strikes

DC had posted 49/2 in the powerplay phase against Sunrisers Hyderabad, but it was later Washington Sundar’s magic with the ball that gave SRH momentum, albeit momentarily in the game.

Sundar struck thrice in the eighth over of the match, getting two big wickets in Warner and Sarfaraz Khan, before seeing off Aman Khan to conclude the over.

Apart from Axar, Warner has been instrumental for DC this campaign so far, so to get the wicket of the Aussie is always a big relief.

To put to context, Warner has scored four half-centuries so far this season, which goes onto show that the skipper himself has been the backbone of DC.

On Monday, Warner was dismissed for 21, with the36-year-old going for the slog sweep only to find Harry Brook taking the catch at deep backward square leg.

Sarfaraz, too, got dismissed in similar fashion, falling victim to the sweep and finding the deep backward square-leg fielder, only this time, it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the catch.

From 49/2, DC were restricted to 62/5, but it was later a crucial 69-run stand between Manish Pandey and Axar Patel that took them to 144.

Mukesh Kumar seals the deal

Mukesh Kumar had gone for 15 runs in the 18^th over of the SRH run-chase. He was hit for two fours by Klaasen, and another one by Washington Sundar, so there’s always bound to be some tension when you are asked to bowl the final over and defend 13 runs.

But, Mukesh did not let slip the opportunity. He rose to the occasion in fact, delivering some brilliant yorkers and bowling some fine lengths, with just five runs coming off that final over.

He may not have taken a wicket on Monday, but he sure did make an impact, in helping DC restrict SRH to 137/6. Afterall, it was a collective bowling effort from DC, irrespective of having taken a wicket or not, because a victory is all that matters at the end of the day. And Delhi Capitals did exactly that.

For SRH, it will be about improving on certain areas and getting back to the drawing board. SRH would hope that by now, they know their opponents better, because they face DC once again in a few days time, in the reverse fixture at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

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