Source : ABC NEWS
Pat Cummins has delivered one of the finest bowling displays of this season’s Indian Premier League (IPL) for Sunrisers Hyderabad, before watching rain end his team’s campaign just as their survival hopes began to flicker.
Sunrisers Hyderabad needed a thumping win over Delhi Capitals to keep alive their slim chance of making the play-offs, with captain Cummins doing his part to help the cause.
He took 3-19 off four overs in Hyderabad, ripping out Delhi Capitals’ top order in a devastating opening spell, which helped restricted the visitors to 7-133 from their 20 overs.
But it was all in vain as the Sunrisers never took strike.
Spectators and viewers were robbed of the chance to see Travis Head taking on Mitch Starc. It means the Sunrisers — last year’s IPL finalists — are now mathematically out of the competition with three matches still to play.
The Capitals, having escaped with an unlikely point, are still in the mix but need to reverse their stuttering form with two wins from their last seven matches.
Having won the toss and chosen to bowl, Cummins took a wicket off the opening ball of each of his first three overs, all caught by wicketkeeper Ishan Kishan.
He dismissed Karun Nair, who feathered the first ball of the innings. In his second over, Nair’s fellow opener Faf du Plessis was snared for 3, swinging and edging.
In Cummins’ third over, Abishek Porel went for 8, athletically caught by Kishan running to backward square leg as the batter looped up a legside shot.
That left the Capitals 3-15 but Cummins was not finished, running back at mid-off to superbly catch opposition captain Axar Patel (6) off Harshal Patel.
When KL Rahul (10) also departed cheaply, the Capitals were 5-29, but Tristan Stubbs (41 no off 36) and Ashutosh Sharma (41 off 26) guided them to a modest but at least respectable total.
The Sunrisers will have fancied their chances of knocking off the chase in good time to improve their net-run-rate, but rain in Hyderabad meant they never had the chance.
AAP
