How SRH won the game-changing moments to turn around a match DD should have won

The IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Daredevils can be used as a textbook example of various clichés used in cricket.

Momentum.

Setting the winners apart.

Catches winning matches.

In the end, Sunrisers won by seven wickets and moved to the top of the table while the Draedevils are all but out of yet another IPL season. But incongruent to the final margin, the match was a last-over thriller, in which Yusuf Pathan took the team home from needing 28 off 12.

But the game that lasted for 39.5 overs was not won by one particular player or lost because of a collective failure. The result ultimately came down to moments, the short periods of play that completely changed the flow of that match.

For a large part of the game, DD looked the team with a better chance. But when it came to seizing these game-changing moments and capitalising on the momentum it created, Sunrisers showed why they are a champion side. Here’s a look at the moments where SRH won the match.

The Shaw show and the Sunrisers bowling comeback

In match that pitted the tournament’s best bowling attack against the most exciting Indian batting lineup, the initial battle was won by India’s Under-19 captain Prithvi Shaw. A top contender for the season’s Emerging Player, he began the onslaught with yet another opening partner – Glenn Maxwell, who was run out at the non-striker’s end in a stroke of bad luck.

But the wicket didn’t faze him as he kept piling on the runs. He is the kind if player who can score on any side of the ground, no matter what field, he can bypass it with his shot placement and brute force. His 36-ball 63 took Delhi to a more than comfortable position at 95/1 at the halfway mark. But as was the case with previous IPL starts, he fell soon after building the platform, with Rashid Khan having the last laugh.

However, his wicket seemed to give Sunrisers the window to get back in the game and they wrested the momentum back from Delhi. From 93/1 in the first 10 overs, DD managed only 30 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in the next 5 and 38/1 from the 16 to 20 overs, 17 off which came off the last over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

While the Hyderabad pitch is known to slow down, 67 off the last 10 overs was unacceptable after the start DD had got.

Mishra’s almost match-winning spell not enough

IPL veteran Amit Mishra, who has bowled many a match-winning spells in Hyderabad, bowled another superb one on Saturday night – 4-0-19-2 – that almost single-handedly gave his team the momentum back.

He bowled an absolute beauty of a ball – perhaps the delivery of the tournament – to break the promising 76-run opening partnership between Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan. A tossed up ball with unplayable turn that stunned Hales and crashed on to his stumps as he kept staring in disbelief. He got Dhawan next, disturbing the timber as well.

On a track that helped spin, he was the only frontline spinner DD had picked and he carried the load admirably. By the time he had finished his spell, SRH needed 68 in 42 balls and all DD had to do was keep the scoreboard pressure and ensure that the middle order succumbed to it.

Kane Williamson keeps calm as SRH batting clicks

Once again, DD had got the momentum in the match. And once again, Sunrisers wrested it back, led from the front by Kane Williamson. SRH is a top-notch bowling unit, but their batting hasn’t really had a chance to be tested as much, especially in a tight chase. Then there is the absence of David Warner, who would have been at the top of the order.

The masters of low scoring games have not chased over 149 to win since 2015 and this chase of 163 was their highest this season and the highest-ever in Hyderabad. In fact, 150 would be considered a good target on this pitch as Shreyas Iyer, who won the toss, said he thought he had enough when the team crossed 160.

But the advantage of having a player like Williamson is the stability he offers. He didn’t go slam bang and finished with a modest 32 off 30. But his presence was invaluable as he marshalled his troops well even when the asking rate was over 14. When Pathan went hammer and tongs, he was talking to him between balls and their partnership of 32 from 16 deliveries was the clincher in the end. Hales and Dhawan played their part as well, as SRH showed that they are probably the most complete unit with batting falling in place as well.

Vijay Shankar drops Pathan on 0

Pathan remained unbeaten on 27 off only 12 balls to take Sunrisers home off the penultimate ball. And all of those 27 runs will weigh heavily on Vijay Shankar, who dropped him when he was on 0 off two balls. Liam Plunkett, who had got Manish Pandey on the first ball of the 17 over, had Pathan mistiming a pull but Shankar spilled it at deep backward square.

This was the second costly drop from DD, after Maxwell had dropped a sitter from Hales in only the second over. Avesh Khan not only missed a wicket there, but went on to leak 47 runs in his three overs. As Iyer said after the match, “catches win matches”, and in this case the Pathan wicket would have actually given Delhi the match.

But it is in such pressure moments that champion teams stand apart from the rest. It these small moments that build confidence and gives teams that intangible momentum needed in long tournaments. This match made it clear why Sunrisers Hyderabad are at the top of table and why Delhi Daredevils are considered the perennial underachievers, even when they put up a spirited fight.