IPL 2018, DD vs SRH: 4 reasons why Delhi Daredevils lost against Hyderabad

Delhi Daredevils needed to win today in order to have any chance of qualifying for the playoffs. Sunrisers won the toss and elected to field first. Delhi got off to a terrible start as they lost both their openers cheaply.

It was followed by the run out of captain Shreyas Iyer. However, what followed was pure carnage as Rishabh Pant took the responsibility on his shoulders and played one of the best innings in the history of IPL.

His knock of 128 runs put Delhi in the driver’s seat. In reply, Hyderabad lost Alex Hales early but a magnificent unbeaten partnership of 176 runs between Kane Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan got them home. Let us have a look at the 4 reasons why Delhi lost.

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#1 Poor start at the top

Delhi has struggled to find a solid opening combination this season. While Prithvi Shaw has impressed everyone, his senior counterparts Jason Roy and Colin Munro have struggled for runs.

Today as well, the openers failed to get going. Both Prithvi Shaw and Jason Roy departed on consecutive deliveries of the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan in the 4th over. Delhi could only post a score of 38 runs of the powerplay overs. Due to such a sluggish start, Delhi was always playing catch up with the Sunrisers in today’s match.

#2 Bowlers disappoint again

It is no secret that Sunrisers’s batting line-up is not the best in this year’s IPL. However, Delhi’s bowlers still conceded 164 runs on a slow low pitch at Hyderabad. As if this was not enough, Delhi ended up conceding 191 runs in less than 19 overs today against Hyderabad.

Liam Plunkett was pretty poor with the ball, bowling either too full or too short. Shahbaz Nadeem bowled a decent first over but was taken for 19 runs of his next. The usually dependable Trent Boult too had a bad day at the office as he gave away 43 runs.

#3 Runouts

Rishabh Pant might be one of the most promising talents in the game but he has a lot to improve in terms of his running between the wickets. In the match against Chennai, he ran out Shreyas Iyer.

Today as well, Pant sent Iyer back when he was halfway down the pitch and Iyer was caught miles short of the crease. The loss of Iyer did hurt Delhi as he has been one of the in-form batsmen this season for the Daredevils.

Harshal Patel was looking well set at the crease but he was sold a dummy by Pant and was run out. This was the fourth occasion when Pant was involved in a run out this season.

#4 Dhawan/Kane partnership

Chasing a massive target of 188 runs on a slowish Kotla pitch, Sunrisers needed big runs at the top. The dependable duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson set up the game with a match-winning partnership.

Shikhar was outstanding from the beginning and helped Sunrisers in keeping up with the required run rate. Kane his time in the beginning and played the sheet anchor role with perfection.

Once fully set, Williamson opened his arms. The duo looked comfortable against both pace and spin. Their massive partnership of 176 runs got them home with 7 balls remaining.