David Warner and Rovman Powell put on an unbeaten partnership of 122 runs as Delhi Capitals defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 21 runs in their Indian Premier League 2022 clash at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.

Delhi finished with 207/3 thanks to Warner (92* off 58) and Powell (67* off 35), before restricting Hyderabad to 186/8 in 20 overs.

The Sunrisers found themselves in trouble 37/3 in seven overs in the chase with Abhishek Sharma, captain Kane Williamson and Rahul Tripathi back in the hut. But Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran then added a 60-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Markram was impressive in his counter-attacking knock but was dismissed for 42 off 25 just as Hyderabad were starting to look threatening. Pooran (62 off 34) fought on and brought up his second successive half-century but he couldn’t take his team over the line eventually.

Khaleel Ahmed, with figures of 3/30 from his four overs, was the pick of the bowlers for Delhi.

Earlier, Delhi and Hyderabad both announced a number of changes to their team at the toss. Hyderabad included three debutants in Kartik Tyagi, Shreyas Gopal and Sean Abbott. While Delhi were forced to leave out Prithvi Shaw, Axar Patel, Mustafizur Rahman and Chetan Sakariya due to injuries and illness. They brought in Anrich Nortje, Mandeep Singh, Ripal Patel and Khaleel Ahmed.

Asked to bat first, Delhi lost the wicket of Mandeep in the first over with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/25) finding his mark right away. Mitchell Marsh (10 off 7) didn’t last for long before Rishabh Pant played a blazing cameo of 26 off 16.

But at 85/3 after nine overs, with skipper Pant sent packing, Delhi needed someone to anchor the innings. Luckily for them, they got two batters who raised their hands and got the job done.

Warner, who was removed as captain by SRH last season before being dropped from the team, was at his absolute best against his former side. The IPL legend hit 12 fours and three sixes in his knock and was aggressive from start to finish.

Powell, meanwhile, dealt exclusively in sixes in terms of boundaries to bring up his half-century. In the final over, he smashed Umran Malik for a six and three fours even as the right-arm pacer sent down deliveries at over 155 kmph.

Malik, who has been impressive in the tournament, had a forgettable outing and returned with figures of 0/52 from his four overs. He was also unlucky as Williamson dropped a simple catch when Powell was batting on just 18.

Points table after DC vs SRH

Team Pld Won Lost Net RR Pts Form
GT 10 8 2 0.158 16 LWWWW
LSG 10 7 3 0.397 14 WWWLW
RR 10 6 4 0.340 12 LLWWW
RCB 11 6 5 -0.444 12 WLLLW
DC 10 5 5 0.641 10 WLWLW
SRH 10 5 5 0.325 10 LLLWW
PBKS 10 5 5 -0.229 10 WLWLL
KKR 10 4 6 0.060 8 WLLLL
CSK 10 3 7 -0.431 6 LWLWL
10  MI 9 1 8 -0.836 2 WLLLL