Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on Kane Williamson's attacking 89 and some brilliant bowling at the death to beat Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs in their Indian Premier League match in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Electing to bat, Hyderabad posted a challenging 191 for 4 courtesy Williamson's 89 off just 51 balls and his 136-run stand for the second wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan (70), and then restricted Delhi to 176 for 5 to maintain their unbeaten run at home.
With their fourth successive win at home, Hyderabad have now jumped to second spot with eight points from six matches, from four wins and two losses.
Chasing 192 for a win, Delhi were in the hunt as they reached 56 for 1 at the end of six powerplay overs with Sanju Samson (42) and Karun Nair (33) going great guns though they lost Sam Billings (13) early on.
But once Samson and Nair were out, Delhi lost their way and the asking rate piled up. They needed 65 from the final five overs but could only manage 49.
Hyderabad’s bowlers came up with a fine bowling show in the death overs.
Needing 24 runs from the final over, Delhi made a valiant attempt but ended up 15 runs short in the end.
For Hyderabad, Mohammed Siraj took two wickets for 39 runs while Siddarth Kaul and Yuvraj Singh grabbed a wicket each.
Earlier, Kane Williamson smashed a brilliant 89 off just 51 balls and shared 136 runs with opener Shikhar Dhawan (70) as Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 191 for 4 in their 20 overs.
Electing to bat, Hyderabad captain David Warner fell early in the second over for just four but Williamson and Dhawan treated the home supporters with some breathtaking shots to take the home side to a challenging total.
Playing in his first match of the season, Williamson was the more aggressor of the duo as he hit six fours and five sixes in his 51-ball knock before he was out in the 17th over.
Dhawan, on the other hand, hit seven fours and a six in his 50-ball innings.
Yuvraj Singh did not contribute much as he was out for three after facing four balls. Moises Henriques and Deepak Hooda remained not out on 12 and nine respectively.
For Delhi, pacer Chris Morris bowled a superb spell, grabbing four wickets while giving away 26 runs, including the wickets of Dhawan and Yuvraj off successive deliveries.
New Zealander Williamson was the star of the Hyderabad innings and his 136-run partnership with Dhawan for the second wicket the highlight of the Hyderabad innings.
Coming at the fall of Warner in the second over, Williamson took just a few deliveries to guage the pitch before opening up with his shots. He hit two consecutive sixes off Angelo Matthews in the seventh over to take Hyderabad 80 for one at the halfway mark.
Williamson took 19 runs from Amit Mishra in the 14th over with two sixes in that over before he was dismissed a few overs later, missing out on a well deserved century.
Hooda and Henriques took 17 runs from the final over bowled by Delhi captain Zaheer Khan to take the score past 190.
