Sunrisers Hyderabad nearly executed a perfect game after losing the toss, but a lapse in judgment during the 18th over gifted Delhi Capitals their first playoff win in the IPL's 12-year history. The Capitals displayed some wonderful cricket, though they almost stumbled at the finish line, despite Rishabh Pant's aggressive 22-run over that should have sealed the deal.
The pitch was sluggish and 'tacky,' putting the Sunrisers at a disadvantage by batting first. Nevertheless, they used their experience to scrape together 162, a total that seemed safe for most of the match. Everything looked stable until the 18th over, where the tactical choice to bowl Basil Thampi over Khaleel Ahmed proved to be a costly blunder.
Prithvi Shaw has fallen 10 times during the Powerplay this year—more than any other player—but it's a conscious tactical choice. He plays a selfless role, acting as the aggressor to let Shikhar Dhawan stabilize the innings. He lived up to that role in this match, scoring 39 off 24 balls, which included tearing through Bhuvneshwar Kumar's attack and hitting three boundaries in one over against Khaleel.
The Sunrisers were pushed into using Rashid during the Powerplay; although his sixth over was tight, yielding only six runs, the Capitals had already reached 55 by the end of the initial six overs.
