Shimron Hetmyer scored an unbeaten 22-ball 42 today as the Delhi Capitals defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 17 runs to book a spot in Tuesday’s final of the 2020 IPL.
It is their first trip ever to an IPL final where they face four-time champions Mumbai Indians.
Hetmyer hit four fours and a six and shared in a 52-run partnership with Shikhar Dhawan who top scored for the Capitals with a 50-ball 78.
The half-century stand came up in just 25 balls with Hetmyer scoring 34 of them as the Capitals raced towards their match-winning total of 189 for 3.
Man of the Match Marcus Stoinis opened the batting with Dhawan and scored 38 from 27 balls. He and Dhawan scored 50 runs from just 29 balls and were 65 without loss after six overs. Stoinis was unbeaten on 33 and Dhawan 30.
The pair took the score to 86 when Stoinis was bowled by Rashid Khan in the ninth over.
Shreyas Iyer joined Dhawan and together they took the score to 126 when Jason Holder had Iyer caught at mid-off for 21.
Hetmyer and Dhawan then took the Sunrisers’ bowling to task scoring at just about 12 runs an over. The Guyanese batsman was particularly harsh on the West Indies captain hitting him for four fours in the 18th over that yielded 18 runs.
Dhawan was trapped lbw in the 19th over two balls after he was dropped at deep midwicket by Rashid Khan. The Capitals lost some momentum after that with only seven runs coming off the final over but managed a competitive total of 189 for 3.
Chasing 190, Sunrisers were immediately in trouble when the dangerous David Warner was bowled by Kagiso Rabada for 2 in the second over with the score at 12.
Three overs later, Sunrisers were in deeper trouble when Stoinis dismissed Priyam Garg (17) and Manish Pandey with the fourth and the sixth balls of the fifth over. At the break, Sunrisers were 64 for 3 from nine overs.
Holder stayed with Kane Williamson until the 12th over when he lost his wicket to Axar Patel for 11 and the Sunrisers 90 for 4.
Williamson and Abdul Samad put on a quick-fire 57 to bring Sunrisers back into the hunt. The 50-stand came up in just 27 balls but the chase began to unravel when Sunrisers lost their fifth wicket in the 17th over when Stoinis had Kane caught by Rabada for 67 with the score at 147.
At 167 for 5, Rabada inflicted the death blows when he had the wickets of Samad and Khan in successive deliveries as he finished with 4 for 29.
The double blow took the sting out of the Sunrisers attack and booked the Capitals spot in the finals.
Stoinis completed a good day with figures of 3 for 26. (Sportsmax)
