An outstanding all-round performance from JP Duminy, who scored a half-century and took four wickets and two catches, saw the Delhi Daredevils home to a narrow win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The Sunrisers gave Dale Steyn his first game of the Indian Premier League tournament, but it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar who struck first when he had Mayank Agarwal caught at slip in the third over. On a sluggish pitch, however, the Sunrisers struggled for penetration, while the batsmen laboured to find the boundaries.
Shreyas Iyer and Duminy settled well, though, and put on a partnership of 78 from 9.2 overs, with Iyer making 60 from 40 balls and reaching his half-century with a pair of sixes off Karn Sharma.
Duminy reached 50 of his own, pulling Steyn for six, but was bowled in the same over by a good yorker that gave the South African fast bowler his first wicket of the tournament. Yuvraj Singh was dismissed by Ashish Reddy the following ball, going to a good boundary catch by David Warner.
Those two wickets, accompanied by some fine death bowling by Kumar, stalled momentum and restricted the Daredevils to a more modest score than they might have hoped for.
Warner and Shikhar Dhawan began the chase cautiously, with the first boundary not arriving until the fifth over. However, in the two that followed a blitz of boundaries brought up the 50 opening partnership.
That looked to have given them a platform to make a large dent in the chase, but their chances were dealt a severe blow when the Daredevils’ captain, Duminy, removed both openers in three balls.
The Sunrisers continued to lose regular wickets, although they retained a chance as long as Ravi Bopara remained at the crease. However, the England all-rounder was caught on the boundary off Duminy’s bowling for 41, and the South African completed his second double-wicket over by bowling Eoin Morgan for one.
Few expected the lower-middle order pair of Reddy and Sharma to complete the chase, but some wild hitting from the pair took them to the final over needing 10 runs to win. Some excellent full bowling from Nathan Coulter-Nile ensured they fell short.
