IPL 2017: SRH vs DD, SK Play of the Day, Kane Williamson's selection and his subsequent 89

In the 21^st match of the 2017 IPL, the Sunrisers Hyderabad put up a magnificent batting display to post 191/4 from their 20 overs. All the credit for their strong total goes to Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson who scored 70 and 89 respectively, adding 148 for the second wicket.

While Dhawan justified the selectors’ faith in him, Williamson’s 89 from just 51 deliveries was definitely something that no one saw coming since hardly anyone expected him to be selected in the first place.

Extra Cover: IPL 2017: DD vs SRH, 5 mistakes Delhi Daredevils committed against Sunrisers Hyderabad

The Sunrisers Hyderabad opted to drop Mohammad Nabi from the playing XI, giving Williamson his first match of the tournament ahead of Ben Cutting, who would have been the first name on everyone’s lips. Prior to the match, Williamson had only scored 155 runs in eight matches at a meagre average of 22.14.

The New Zealander joined Dhawan after the latter’s opening partner David Warner was dismissed for 4 during the 2^nd over. Williamson began to play defensively in his first few deliveries before showing his aggressive intent in the seventh over as he smashed Angelo Mathews for two successive sixes.

Williamson then went on scoring runs steadily, mainly in ones and twos, as he reached only his second IPL fifty off just 33 deliveries. The Kiwi received tremendous support from Dhawan who went after the opposition bowlers and got to his first half-century of the tournament.

Extra Cover: SK Turning Point, Yuvraj Singh turns the match on its head with his first over of the tournament

Williamson then reached his highest IPL score, bettering his 38-ball 50 against Royal Challengers Bangalore last year. The Kiwi skipper switched gears during the latter part of the innings as he hit two sixes off Amit Mishra’s bowling during the 14^th over before hitting two boundaries off Angelo Mathews in the 16^th over.

Williamson’s sensational knock of 89 took the Sunrisers Hyderabad to a powerful total of 191

He eventually departed for 89 from 51 balls after flicking a full-length delivery from Chris Morris towards midwicket where Shreyas Iyer ran to his right to take a brilliant catch. The Sunrisers eventually wrapped up their innings at 191/4 from their 20 overs. Morris was the pick of the Delhi bowlers, with four wickets for 26 from his four overs while all the other bowlers went wicketless and conceded over eight runs an over.

In reply, the Daredevils looked in a good position when Sanju Samson and Karun Nair were batting as the duo kept the scoreboard ticking and added a 45-ball partnership of 71 for the second wicket. However, the dismissal of both in addition to that of Rishabh Pant’s put Delhi on the back foot before Shreyas Iyer gave DD some hope through his aggressive batting towards the end of the innings.

However, it wasn’t enough as the Sunrisers won the match by 15 runs to register their fourth victory of the competition. Amongst the SRH bowlers, IPL debutant Mohammed Siraj was the pick of them as he scalped two wickets for 39 runs from his four overs. Siddharth Kaul and Yuvraj Singh took a wicket each.

For his finest IPL innings so far, Kane Williamson was adjudged the Man of the Match.