IPL 2019, Eliminator: Captaincy move that cost SRH the game
Delhi Capitals would be feeling unlucky that they had to play the IPL 2019 eliminator match instead of the qualifier. The franchise based in the capital of India were level with Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the points table, but missed out on a top two spot due to inferior NRR.
On the other hand, SRH must be feeling lucky about playing this match. They became the first team in IPL history to qualify for the playoffs with just 12 points on the board.
Both teams knew that a win in this match would earn them a place in Friday's qualifier vs CSK. At the same time, they knew that a loss would send them home. The stakes were the highest they had been yet in this edition of the IPL.
DC captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field first on a slightly slow pitch. SRH got off to a fantastic start as Martin Guptill looked in great touch. The Kiwi opener scored 36 runs off 19 balls before he was caught in the deep just after the powerplay.
As the spinners came into the game, it became difficult for the SRH batsmen to accumulate runs. Manish Pandey and Kane Williamson played decent innings but they came at a slow pace.
Vijay Shankar and Mohammad Nabi played brilliant cameos at the end to take the score past 160.
Chasing a target of 163, DC got off to a fantastic start thanks to Prithvi Shaw. He scored a brilliant half-century to put his team in a great position.
Khaleel Ahmed took two wickets in the middle, including the wicket of Shaw, to bring SRH back in the game. Rashid Khan then made it more interesting by taking two wickets in one over.
DC needed 34 runs in the last three overs and the match was evenly poised. It was then that captain Williamson made a huge mistake by giving the 18th over to Basil Thampi instead of Khaleel Ahmed.
Thampi conceded 22 runs in the over as Rishabh Pant tore into him. That took the game away from SRH for good.
Pant finished with 49 runs off 21 balls to take his team to the cusp of victory. Bhuvneshwar Kumar did take two wickets in the 19th over to give SRH a small chance, but it was too little too late. Keemo Paul held his nerve to hit the winning runs and take his team home.
Eventually, DC won the match by two wickets with one ball to spare. This means that SRH have been knocked out of the tournament. On the other hand, DC are set to face CSK on Friday for a place in Sunday's final vs MI.
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