For the last couple of weeks, a lot of cricket ‘experts’ criticised Rahul Dravid strategies for the Delhi Daredevils this IPL. Their batting order looked bizarre, they made unnecessary replacements and their bowling combinations were weird. However, one thing was clear as crystal through it all.
Their only concern was to put nascent talent at the forefront of their priorities.
Yesterday, it finally paid off for the team. Everything was stacked against them – they were playing against one of the best batting-bowling combinations of the tournament and were chasing a daunting target of 185 after being bowled out for 67 in their last match against a not-so-good Kings XI attack.
However, the talent that DD keep talking about honing, finally reared its beautiful head yesterday. Between Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant, the Delhi Daredevils scored 130 runs in 84 balls.
The experienced players were effective for DD as well. Mohammad Shami and Amit Mishra pulled things back in the first innings when Yuvraj Singh was going full guns blazing. Corey Anderson’s mature knock in the last lap of the second innings, which got his team over the line. Delhi Daredevils won by six wickets at the end of it all.
Also Read: Rishabh Pant's aggressive 20-ball 34 is the SK Turning Point of the match
Here are the leading run scorers and wicket takers after Delhi Daredevils vs Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Leading run scorers –
| Position | Player | Matches | Innings | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | 100s | 50s | Highest |
| 1 | David Warner (SRH) | 10 | 10 | 489 | 61.12 | 150.46 | 1 | 3 | 126 |
| 2 | Gautam Gambhir (KKR) | 10 | 10 | 387 | 55.29 | 135.31 | 0 | 4 | 76* |
| 3 | Robin Uthappa (KKR) | 10 | 9 | 384 | 42.67 | 170.67 | 0 | 5 | 87 |
| 4 | Shikhar Dhawan (SRH) | 10 | 10 | 369 | 36.9 | 125.51 | 0 | 2 | 77 |
| 5 | Steve Smith (RPS) | 9 | 9 | 324 | 46.29 | 136.71 | 0 | 2 | 84* |
| 6 | Suresh Raina (GL) | 10 | 10 | 318 | 45.43 | 138.86 | 0 | 2 | 84 |
| 7 | Brendon McCullum (SRH) | 10 | 10 | 318 | 31.8 | 148.6 | 0 | 2 | 72 |
| 8 | Hashim Amla (KXIP) | 8 | 8 | 315 | 63 | 140 | 1 | 2 | 104* |
| 9 | Sanju Samson (DD) | 9 | 9 | 313 | 34.78 | 137.28 | 1 | 1 | 102 |
| 10 | Nitish Rana (MI) | 10 | 10 | 312 | 34.67 | 129.46 | 0 | 3 | 62* |
Leading wicket takers –
| Position | Player | Matches | Wickets | Overs | Runs | 5 Wickets | Economy | Best Figures |
| 1 | Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH) | 10 | 21 | 40 | 265 | 1 | 6.62 | 5 for 19 |
| 2 | Imran Tahir (RPS) | 10 | 16 | 39 | 309 | 0 | 7.92 | 3 for 18 |
| 3 | Mitchell McClenaghan (MI) | 10 | 15 | 40 | 363 | 0 | 9.07 | 3 for 24 |
| 4 | Chris Morris (DD) | 9 | 12 | 31 | 240 | 0 | 7.74 | 4 for 26 |
| 5 | Rashid Khan (SRH) | 10 | 12 | 40 | 273 | 0 | 6.82 | 3 for 19 |
| 6 | Jasprit Bumrah (MI) | 10 | 12 | 40 | 321 | 0 | 8.02 | 3 for 24 |
| 7 | Andrew Tye (GL) | 6 | 12 | 21 | 141 | 1 | 6.71 | 5 for 17 |
| 8 | Sandeep Sharma (KXIP) | 8 | 11 | 30 | 262 | 0 | 8.73 | 4 for 20 |
| 9 | Nathan Coulter-Nile (KKR) | 5 | 11 | 18.2 | 152 | 0 | 8.29 | 3 for 21 |
| 10 | Yuzvendra Chahal (RCB) | 10 | 11 | 32.3 | 249 | 0 | 7.66 | 3 for 16 |
Both David Warner and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are not only leaders of the orange cap and purple cap tables respectively, they have also ensured that they lead by a significant gap. Their performance in the this year’s IPL is one of the main reasons why SRH have all but made it to the playoffs with three matches to go.
Apart from them, Shikhar Dhawan and Rashid Khan are also constants in the top 10 in their respective lists. This is the symbol of a complete team, and SRH easily are one of the most complete teams in this year’s IPL.
They might’ve suffered the odd loss yesterday, but still are one of the top 3 contenders for the trophy this year and might as well end up defending their championship.
Let us look at the points table now.
Points Table –
| Position | Team | Played | Won | Lost | No Result | Net Run Rate | Points | Last Result | Next Opponent |
| 1 | Mumbai Indians | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0.427 | 16 | Beat RCB by wickets | DD |
| 2 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0.849 | 14 | Lost to SRH by 48 runs | RPS |
| 3 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 0.659 | 13 | Lost to DD by 6 wickets | RPS |
| 4 | Rising Pune Supergiant | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | -0.179 | 12 | Beat GL by 5 wickets | KKR |
| 5 | Kings XI Punjab | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0.228 | 8 | Beat DD by 10 wickets | RCB |
| 6 | Delhi Daredevils | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | -0.094 | 6 | Beat SRH by 6 wickets | GL |
| 7 | Gujarat Lions | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | -0.323 | 6 | Lost to RPS by 5 wickets | DD |
| 8 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 11 | 2 | 8 | 1 | -1.441 | 5 | Lost to MI by 5 wickets | KXIP |
