Hyderabad spinners restrict Delhi batsmen to 129/8

It was a new day, but the Delhi Capitals batsmen put up another disappointing show at the Feroz Shah Kotla here against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League game on Thursday. Put in to bat, DC put on 129/8 in their 20 overs.

Sunrisers skipper Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the toss and put DC in and the SRH bowlers started well, stifling the home team batsman on a wicket which wore a typical low and slow look. Mohammad Nabi (2/21) and Rashid Khan (1/18) made full use of the conditions as the DC batsmen failed to read the two Afghanistan spinners.

Prithvi Shaw looked to start aggressively as he hit Bhuvneshwar for a boundary off the first ball of the match. But the SRH skipper had the last laugh as he sent Shaw's (11) stumps for a walk in the park in the third over of the DC innings.

After that it was all about spinning a web over the DC batsmen as Nabi (opening the bowling with Bhuvneshwar) sent back Shikhar Dhawan (12). The struggle of the Delhi batsmen were to be seen on the scoreboard as they managed to score just 36 runs for the loss of two wickets in the powerplay.

Star batsman Rishabh Pant (5) fell trying to up the ante as Deepak Hooda picked a smart catch at long-off off Nabi as the score read 52/3. Skipper Shreyas Iyer did try to wage a battle, but he didn't find much support from the other end.

Iyer (43 off 41 balls) was finally cleaned up by Rashid as the leg-spinner was finally rewarded with a wicket for his quality effort. All-rounder Chris Morries tried to wield the long handle, but could only manage 17 off 15 balls as DC picked 24 runs off the last two overs with Axar Patel finishing with a six off the last ball.

Brief scores

Delhi Capitals: 129/8 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 43, Axar Patel 23 not out; Mohammad Nabi 2/21, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/27) vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

(Baidurjo Bhose can be contacted at baidurjo.b@ians.in)

--IANS

bbh/nir