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Delhi Daredevils snapped their five-match losing streak with a comfortable six–wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad to keep their hopes alive of making it to the play-offs, in the Indian Premier League, at the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi, on Tuesday.
Scorecard
Veteran Yuvraj Singh scored a timely 70, his second half-century of the season, and raised a 93-run unbroken stand with Moises Henriques (25) to lead the visitors to a challenging 185 for three after being asked to bat.
The hosts, who have been enduring a tough season with one defeat after another, then came up with an inspiring collective batting display to stun the defending champions with five balls to spare.
Each and every Delhi batsman, who took strike, contributed in the win. The openers Karun Nair (39) and Sanju Samson (24) scored 40 runs in first four overs to provide a decent start and the batsmen who followed them built on the momentum.
Rishabh Pant (34) and Shreyas Iyer (33) batted with dogged determination to ensure that the required run-rate never go out of hand in the middle overs.
Nair was dropped on 20 by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but the Daredevils stand-in captain could not make full use of the lifeline and was dismissed by Siddarth Kaul.
The runs came at a good pace for the hosts with their youngsters taking the responsibility with the bat. They needed 61 from last seven overs and with Anderson and Iyer going great guns at the crease, it looked a relatively easy task.
However, Bhuvneshwar brought his team back into the contest with the wicket of Iyer at a crucial juncture.
Since the Delhi batsmen lost wickets after getting their eyes in, it kept Sunrisers' hopes alive but gradually the required run rate dropped and Corey Anderson (41 not out) finished the match in company of Chris Morris (15 not out).
With this win, which is only their third in nine games, Daredevils lifted themselves off the bottom place in the standings, jumping two places to sixth position, while Sunrisers remain on third spot with 13 points from 11 games.
Incidentally, Daredevils' last win had come at this very ground against Kings XI Punjab.
Earlier, Sunrisers were off to a flying to start through skipper David Warner (30) and Shikhar Dhawan (28) but Delhi spin duo of Amit Mishra and Jayant Yadav managed to choke the defending champions in the middle overs.
Samson dropped Yuvraj on 29 and the dashing left-hander exploited it to get some crucial runs for his side. After making 62 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first match of IPL-10, he was struggling for runs but he eventually found touch when the team needed.
He took some time to settle down on a slow pitch but gradually stroked the ball nicely. His 70 came off 41 balls with 11 fours and a six.
In the last three overs, Sunrisers collected 52 runs with Kagiso Rabada leaking 39 runs in 18th and 20th overs.
Leg-spinner Mishra had played a crucial role in creating pressure by drying up the runs as he gave away only 23 runs in his four overs and also got rid of Dhawan.
Jayant, included in place of Shahbaz Nadeem, also did a great job by conceding only 26 runs in his four overs despite opening the bowling.
Warner began from where he left against Kolkata Knight Riders, striking the ball confidently. He found boundaries off Jayant and Rabada with remarkable ease.
Dhawan also was in tremendous touch as he creamed off two fours and a six off Chris Morris. The two left-handed openers were never troubled by the home bowlers. Warner smashed one from Mohammed Shami to midwicket boundary to raise the team's fifty.
However, Shami extracted revenge off the next ball with a superb yorker that uprooted Warner's off-stump.
Mishra, who came into the attack in the ninth over, struck with his second ball as Dhawan top-edged the googly to Shreyas Iyer, who covered good distance to take the catch at deep square leg.
The two wickets affected the run flow but the visitors still put on board 83 in 10 overs as Kane Williamson (24) found a few boundaries.
But tight overs by Morris, Mishra and Yadav, created pressure and Williamson, trying to break free, went for a pull off Shami bouncer but only top-edged it to Morris.
There was gap of 15 balls when no boundary was struck before Yuvraj finally smashed Shami for a straight four to raise the team's 100 in the 14th over.
The runs were only coming in ones and twos for Sunrisers before Yuvraj's stunning assault in the final few overs changed the script completely as the visitors hit as many as 71 runs in the last five overs.