SRH overcome mighty Marsh to end losing streak
Abhishek, Klaasen and Markande shine for Sunrisers to keep Capitals rooted to the bottom of the points table
Abhishek, Klaasen and Markande shine for Sunrisers to keep Capitals rooted to the bottom of the points table
Scorer: K Vairavan | Commentator: @PeterDellaPenna
11.10 pm So both sides win the away match in the head to head encounters just a few days apart. Delhi win in Hyderabad, Sunrisers return the favor taking the result in Delhi. The Capitals now sit alone in last place on four points. Sunrisers meanwhile have clawed up to be joint seventh place with KKR and Mumbai on six points. All three of them are four points behind the four-team logjam at the top of the table.
Delhi Capitals captain David Warner: "Losing by nine runs, it actually was a pretty nice wicket. Getting in and out of our overs, we were a fraction off tonight. I think Mitch Marsh bowled fantastic through the middle overs and was our best bowler, but coming up nine runs short is pretty disappointing. They took the pace off quite a lot. At the end of the day when you get two guys off to a good start, it's important that we try to capitalize on that and one of them go on to score a big one. If we were able to do that, it sort of takes it out. But when you lose wickets in the middle and there's no partnerships unfolding, it makes it pretty difficult. [On Axar Patel's batting position] He's in good touch and good form, but for us it's about we got off to a good start and him at the back end... we knew it would be vital with their spinners spinning into left-handers and we only had me and Axar [as lefties]. We had two guys going at that point and holding Axar back at the back end, it can be difficult but they're the challenges that present us when we're actually in the moment and maybe we can think about that, sending him earlier. We just have to build momentum through the middle with the bat. We need one or two players to get 80+ scores and win games for us. We've been losing too many wickets throughout the middle and that's where we're suffering a little bit. Our senior players have to take responsibility. One of us has to get a big total and then it takes care of itself from there."
Sunrisers wk Heinrich Klassen: "It's about time I do something at the IPL so I'm very pleased about it. I think it was a good team effort and we finally freed ourselves up as a batting unit. I'm glad that the batters played with a little bit more freedom in the middle and at the start of the innings and hopefully it's a good sign of things to come. We've got the players to do it up front and need to free them up a little bit and like tonight they showed that they can do it. We've got a great wicket back home and hopefully we can take this form and this result back home. You have to fit in where the team wants you. You can't be one-dimensional so I'm happy to play where the team needs me. The wicket was holding a little more and had turn in it so we encouraged [our spinners] to try to spin the ball as much as they can and slow it up against the big hitters to make it difficult on this wicket. [On Abhishek Sharma's bowling] He's been bowling well in the nets so we just keep encouraging him to try to turn the ball and not do all this fancy stuff out of his hand. Just try to spin the ball as much as he can."
Sunrisers captain Aiden Markram: "It was a great team effort. It's good to see the guys put in great efforts in the buildup to this game and good to see a nice fresh approach from the batters and some good character and good skills at the end by the bowlers too. I don't mind getting things wrong on a cricket field as long as they approach things in the right way to try to be the best versions of ourselves. You have to take your hats off to the players to get them to buy in so quickly. Klaasy has been in great form. Abhishek did the hard work for us up front playing some great shots but we still needed someone to finish it off. I thought the partnership with Klaasen and Samad was really good. Klaasy just plays one way really and it's good to see him do that on this stage. It was basically a case of a couple of good overs and a wicket would get us back in the game. It took something special like the catch from Mayank to get us back in the game. The bowlers showed a lot of character. We've got to take it one game at a time for us but also appreciate we need to get wins under our belt. Hopefully we can play another good game of cricket in our next game."
Mitchell Marsh has been named Player of the Match in a losing effort with his half-century and four wickets: He beats out Abhishek Sharma who also scored a half-century and took a wicket. "It's a disappointing loss for us. Nice to have that partnership with Salty but unfortunately couldn't get us over the line. We knew that the Powerplay was going to be really big and it was important to get off to a good start because the wicket slowed up a bit. I think we gave 20 too many and they were too good. [Duing the partnership with Salt] If the ball was in our area, just keep trying to find the boundary. Unfortunately we lost a couple of wickets and that can happen when you chase totals because you feel like you need to keep going but ultimately we were outplayed. I still think there's a lot of positives coming out of today. We've lost some close ones. There's a reason why the IPL is the best tournament in the world. It's bloody hard to win games. Close games can define your season. Unfortunately we've been on the wrong end of a few. But our spirits are high. There's still a long way to go in this tournament. We need to start winning but I hold a lot of belief in this group."
That's it for today's live coverage. Come back tomorrow for another IPL doubleheader. Until then, take care!
That'll seal the match result for Sunrisers barring any more wides or no balls.
Back at the top of the order, he scored a quick fifty and later chipped in with a wicket, making a persuasive case to be given a longer rope
Abhishek, Klaasen and Markande shine for Sunrisers to keep Capitals rooted to the bottom of the points table
Both teams have scored the fewest runs so far, and are rooted at the bottom of the table, separated only by NRR
"The six games he played, it was just over 40-odd runs, averaging about 7 or 8. That's not what we require right now"
The England phenom has had a tough time dealing with slow and low pitches