Sunrisers Hyderabad extended the Delhi Capitals’ wait for a spot in the 2020 IPL playoffs, widely beating them by 88 runs and in the process, handing the Capitals their third straight loss. Batting first, Sunrisers posted a strong 219/2 with captain David Warner, on his birthday, scoring half a century, along with top-scoring wicketkeeper batter Wriddhiman Saha at 87.
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Playing ahead of Jonny Bairstow, in his second 2020 IPL match, Saha surprised DC head coach Ricky Ponting, who felt that the wicketkeeper’s hitter hit made the difference.
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“Saha played wonderfully today. In fact, I was a bit surprised. I know he’s a dangerous player, but coming back after a long time and playing like he did was a super blow. It was the difference in the game, ”Ponting said in the post-game press.
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“We knew Kane could come back for this game, so Bairstow might have to sit down, which meant Saha would have to come back as WK. We had a good talk in the morning about how we wanted to play Saha and obviously Kane did hit No. 4. “
Chasing a 220-run mountain, DC promoted Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer ahead of pattern Shreyas Iyer, but the play failed as both batters failed to lead by 5 and 16 respectively. Ponting said the call was made with his intention to match SRH’s Powerplay score of 77.
“Chasing 220, with Rahane and Shikhar at the top, we thought that if we lost an early wicket, we would have to match (SRH) in the power play and get to 65 or 70,” added the former Australian captain.
“Stoinis has been in sensational form so far, he was dying for a shot at the higher order. It didn’t come out today, but it was all circumstantial because we were chasing such a large total. It was a bit of experimentation. “
Delhi Capitals showed no resistance against SRH’s bowlers and cleared for 131 in 19 overs. It was his third loss in a row and he has dropped to third place after an 88-run loss. DC will face Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore in their last two league games and Ponting feels they need to restart things quickly to secure a playoff spot.
“We had a rough idea from the beginning of the game about how many points it would take to qualify. We got to seven wins pretty quickly and now we’ve lost three in a row. We have to restart right now. We played IM next and RCB in the last match and if we continue to play as we are, it will be difficult for us to win those matches. So we have to change things and change them quickly, ”he added.
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