Dhawan, Stoinis shine as Delhi beat Hyderabad to reach first final

Shikhar Dhawan of Delhi Capitals raises his bat after scoring a fifty

Delhi Capitals entered its maiden IPL final with a 17-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Delhi will face Mumbai Indians in the summit clash in Dubai tomorrow .
Chasing 190, Kane Williamson’s genius was on full display before young Abdul Samad brought the equation down to 23 runs off 10 balls. But Kagiso Rabada dismissed Samad, Rashid Khan and Shreevats Goswami in the penultimate over to usher the end.

Every strategic punt by Shreyas Iyer and Ricky Ponting paid off; be it bringing in Shimron Hetmyer for Prithvi Shaw or promoting Marcus Stoinis -- a bright spot from the defeat to Mumbai Indians - as an opener or bowling the Aussie in the PowerPlay.

Stoinis and Hetmyer ensured Shikhar Dhawan’s fourth fifty of the season wouldn’t go to waste. Then Stoinis, bowling the fifth over, dismissed both Priyam Garg and Manish Pandey to reduce SRH to 44 for three after Rabada had bowled batting powerhouse David Warner off the pads for just two.

It brought Williamson and Jason Holder together and the former was at his delightful best, hitting a six each off Pravin Dubey, Rabada, Axar Patel and Stoinis. But Jason Holder’s dismissal ended the 46-run fourth-wicket stand, leaving Williamson with a lot to do.  (AGENcies)

Brief Scores

DC: 189/3 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 78, Shimron Hetmyer 42*, Rashid Khan 1/26, Sandeep Sharma 1/30, Jason Holder 1/50)
SRH: 172/8 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 67, Abdul Samad 33, Kagiso Rabada 4/29, Marcus Stoinis 3/26, Axar Patel 1/33)