Hyderabad hold nerve to pip Delhi by 6 runs

Raipur, May 9: Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques' gritty fifty and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's crafty bowling helped Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) stay in the hunt for the playoffs as they beat Delhi Daredevils (DD) by 6 runs in a hard-fought IPL 2015 match, here today.

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Electing to bat at the Shaheed Veer Narayan International Stadium - DD's second home, SRH rode on an unbeaten 74 from man-of-the-match Henriques to post 163/4 in 20 overs.

The David Warner-led side then defended its target after restricting DD to 157/4 as Kedar Jadhav (63 not out) and Saurabh Tiwary (26 not out) stood disappointed with a 91-run unbeaten stand.

Bhuvneshwar (1-20) struck early as the medium-pacer got Shreyas Iyer caught and bowled for a naught in the third over of the innings.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock (50) then stitched a 47-run partnership with skipper Jean-Paul Duminy (12) to give the side some stability.

But in came leg-spinner Karn Sharma (2-12), the sixth bowler in nine overs, and got dangerman De Kock stumped on a delivery that tossed and turned to draw the South African out of his crease.

Off-spinner Parvez Rasool (1-20) got Yuvraj Singh (2) caught at long on in the very next over and Karn was the catcher.

The Meerut-born Karn continued to make his presence felt as he cleaned up Duminy in his very next over as DD kept losing control.

Henriques lifts SRH to 163/4

Earlier, Henriques struck a gritty fifty, his first in the tournament, to lift SRH to 163/4. Henriques (74 not out) managed to stick around with a wobbly top-order to finally stitch a crucial 64-run unbeaten fifth wicket stand with Ravi Bopara (17 not out) and take SRH to a respectable total.

Veteran DD pacer Zaheer Khan (1-33) drew first blood after scalping Shikhar Dhawan (13) in the fourth over.

Warner falls for 17

The left-hander tried to flick an incoming delivery from the left-arm pacer but mistimed the shot to lob an easy catch to Albie Morkel at midwicket Nathan Coulter-Nile (2-25) struck in the very next over to send David Warner (17) back in the dug out, just when the skipper was looking dangerous.

Henriques and Eoin Morgan (22) then stitched a quiet 33-run partnership before Jayant Yadav (1-19), who opened the attack for DD, broke through in the 11th over.

Morgan tried to loft out a pitched up Yadav delivery to long-off but Coulter-Nile took a good catch as he got his hands under the dipping white ball.

SRH hit 64 in final 5

Coulter-Nile continued to make his presence on the field as he broke through another partnership after getting Karn Sharma (16) back in the pavilion.

It was now the turn of Yadav to return the favour as he picked a neat catch after Sharma mistimed a short ball to the point region.

After that it an Henriques show, who helped the side get 21 runs of the penultimate over post hitting Albie (0-35) for two big sixes.

The final over, bowled by Zaheer, also saw a six from Henriques as SRH managed 64 runs from the final 5 overs. Skipper Jean-Paul Duminy, Amit Mishra and Albie went wicketless.

PTI