IPL 2020: Harshal Patel credits slow Sharjah pitch for the win

Bengaluru, October 10: Delhi Capitals seamer Harshal Patel felt the Sharjah wicket had slowed down a bit, a fact which helped them during their 46-run win over Rajasthan Royals in Match 23 of the Indian Premier League (2020) on Friday (October 9) night.

The Sharjah Cricket Stadium is relatively small comapred to the other two IPL 2020 venues -- Abu Dhabi and Dubai -- with short square boundaries.

All the matches held in Sharjah during IPL 2020 have been relatively tall scoring ones with the batsmen having a good time.

But on Friday, Delhi Capitals struggled initially and were tottering at 79 for four in the 10th over before eventually posting 184, a total which proved more than enough for them.

"The ball was definitely stopping, this Sharjah wicket was considerably different so a total around 170 was competitive," said Patel in the post-match press conference, something which even Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith also admitted.

Patel added 40 runs for the fifth wicket with Shimron Hetmyer, who scored a brisk 45 off 24 balls and and helped the Capitals post a respectable total.

The Haryana all-rounder made a 15-ball 16 during the partnership and it proved crucial in the end.

"When Hetmyer and I were batting, we were thinking to score somewhere around 165-170 because this was a considerably slower wicket than we had played on earlier," added Patel.

The 29-year-old felt Capitals have enough batting depth with most of the bowlers capable of useful contributions with the bat.

"I think we bat pretty deep, we have Axar (Patel) at eight and (Ravichandran) Ashwin at nine, and (Kagiso) Rabada can hit a few sixes as well we have a deep batting line-up, anytime after the 16th over, it's about hitting one-two boundaries every over," he added.

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The victory helped Delhi Capitals move to the top of the IPL 2020 table with 10 points from six games.

The Shreyas Iyer-led side take on champions Mumbai Indians in their next game on Sunday (October 11) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.