Despite the victory Delhi Daredevils remain in sixth place; Sunrisers stay at the top.
Karun Nair kept Delhi Daredevils’ slender hopes of qualifying for the play-offs alive with a 59-ball unbeaten 83 that guided them to a six-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Friday’s Indian Premier League match, at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh stadium in Raipur, that went down to the wire.
Chasing 159, Daredevils rode on Nair's knock to secure a last-ball victory against a butter-fingered Sunrisers Hyderabad, who dropped two easy chances, though Barinder Sran pulled off one of the best in the tournament.
After Mustafizur Rahman conceded just five runs in the penultimate over, Daredevils needed 11 off the final six deliveries, bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The seamer had a good start, but a composed Nair did well to hit boundaries off the final two deliveries to take Delhi across the line
Nair’s knock was studded with eight boundaries and three sixes.
Daredevils remain in sixth place with seven wins from 13 games, while Sunrisers stay at the top despite the reverse.
The Daredevils were off to a bad start, as they lost Quinton de Kock (2) cheaply in the second over.
The young duo of Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant (32) then shared a 73-run partnership for the second wicket to keep them in the hunt.
While Sran gave Sunrisers the opening breakthrough, the bowler was hit for two boundaries by Nair in the following.
Nair then a clobbered Moises Henriques short delivery for a big six over square leg.
At the end of the 10th over, the Daredevils were 68 for two, needing 91 runs from 60 balls.
Two overs went without a boundary after that six by Nair till Pant dispatched a short ball from leg-spinner Karn Sharma through the midwicket region. That was the last time Pant would find the fence as he was run-out due to a good piece of fielding by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Pant struck three boundaries in his 26-ball knock.
Nair wrested the momentum by hitting Deepak Hooda's full toss through midwicket for a four.
J P Duminy swept Karn Sharma, and the ball raced to the boundary despite David Warner's full-length dive.
Nair reached his half century with a single, but was lucky as Warner dropped him soon after.
Earlier, sent in to bat, skipper Warner led from the front, striking eight boundaries and a six in his 56-ball knock of 73. It was his eighth fifty in the ongoing ninth season of the T20 league.
The in-form opener added 46 runs for the first wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (10) before the Indian fell to a brilliant piece of work by Carlos Brathwaite.
As Dhawan hit one towards mid-on, Brathwaite made a diving save off his own bowling and then fired an accurate throw to the striker's end to run-out the batsman who was looking for a quick single.
Deepak Hooda (1), too, was run out while going for what seemed like a needless attempt.
Yuvraj Singh (10) was bowled by Brathwaite as Sunrisers Hyderabad slumped to 66 for three in the 10th over.
Warner tried to forge a partnership with Moises Henriques (10) and added 39 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was sent back by JP Duminy.
Even as wickets fell around him, Warner stood firm at the other hand and kept finding the ropes. He was especially fluent in the off side to start with and scored a few boundaries in that direction.
However, Sunrisers were dealt a body blow when they lost their captain in the 16th over, leaving the side struggling at 117 for five.
Brathwaite bowled one short outside off and Warner top-edged to give Amit Mishra an easy catch at third man.
Down the order, Eoin Morgan (10) Naman Ojha made (16 not out) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (12 not out) made useful contributions to help the team reach a modest total.
Returning to the side, Brathwaite picked two wickets for 27 runs in his four-over spell, while was one apiece for JP Duminy and Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Earlier, Daredevils continued their trend of tinkering with their playing eleven. They made three changes to the line-up that lost to Rising Pune Supergiants.
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