Delhi Daredevils fought in the field after a meek showing with the bat, but Sunrisers Hyderabad prevailed in a low-scorer at the Feroz Shah Kotla, as Dale Steyn hit the winning runs with four balls to spare, after having been the Daredevils' chief antagonist during their innings. The hosts' spinners brought their side into the game by making regular breakthroughs in a tight middle spell, but in the end Daredevils' 114 proved to be too few, despite the pitch having slowed considerably since their time in the middle.
Steyn's outstanding opening spell was the catalyst for Daredevils' collapse, even if Ishant Sharma finished with more wickets from the early overs. Steyn cramped David Warner for space with three fast, swinging, good length balls in the first over, before Warner attempted to break the shackles by going over mid-on, only to mistime the ball and offer a simple catch to the fielder there. While Steyn proved difficult to get away at one end, Mahela Jayawardene and Virender Sehwag targeted Sharma's overs in order to establish some impetus, and they perished in consecutive balls in the fifth over, both attempting expansive strokes.
The three big, early wickets worked to slow Daredevils' progress, and the middle order batted tentatively, though often not safely. When Johan Botha cut one straight to point at the end of the 9th over, Daredevils were crawling at less than five an over, and they could not surge far beyond five an over at any stage in their innings.
Amit Mishra bowled his four overs for 15 runs and took one wicket, and Thisara Perera broke the longest partnership of the innings - a 30-run stand between Irfan Pathan and Kedar Jadhav - before it could do his side much harm, but it was Steyn who returned to sting Daredevils at the death, and he finished with deserved figures of 2 for 11 from his full quota.
Sunrisers had a solid enough base at the top of the chase, and the 44-run second-wicket stand between Parthiv Patel proved invaluable, given the wobble that followed. Reasoning that only an aggressive approach would see him defend such a paltry score, Jayawardene maintained a slip throughout the innings, and brought men into the circles in the middle overs to cut off the singles as well as function as catching fielders. The ploy worked through the middle overs, as they claimed four wickets for 25 runs, in 40 deliveries.
Parthiv first offered a simple leading edge to bowler Shahbaz Nadeem, misjudging one that stopped on the pitch, before Sangakkara, who had played some sublime strokes in the early overs, edged to slip attempting a late cut. Cameron White then charged Nadeem in the 14th over, and missed the ball by a distance, to find himself stumped, before Hanuma Vihari stroked Morne Morkel to mid-off, attempting to clear the tight infield.
But their total was so low, Sunrisers only needed busy mini-partnerships to near it, and they kept their heads above water with runs that came in spurts. Ashish Reddy hit 16 from 9, and Mishra remained unbeaten on 16, to guide the chase home, with three wickets remaining.
Delhi Daredevils captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and opted to bat first at the Feroz Shah Kotla, as Virender Sehwag came into the side, who are still searching for their first win after three early losses. Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kumar Sangakkara suggested he might also have batted first, but expected the surface to remain good throughout the 40 overs. Sunrisers won two of their first three matches.
Unmukt Chand missed out after three failures, as Daredevils made room for Sehwag's entry. Sehwag had missed the first three matches through injury. Jeevan Mendis also found himself on the sidelines as Johan Botha returned to the team, while fast bowler Siddarth Kaul came into the side for Ashish Nehra.
The visitors went with the same four overseas players as they did in their loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday, but they dropped all rounder Biplab Samantray in favour of the seamer Anand Rajan.
Delhi Daredevils: 1. Virender Sehwag, 2. David Warner, 3. Mahela Jayawardene (c), 4. Manprit Juneja, 5. Johan Botha, 6. Irfan Pathan, 7. Kedar Jadhav (wk), 8. Shahbaz Nadeem, 9. Morne Morkel, 10. Siddarth Kaul, 11. Umesh yadav
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1. Akshath Reddy, 2. Parthiv Patel (wk), 3. Kumar Sangakkara (c), 4. Cameron White, 5. Thisara Perera, 6. Hanuma Vihari, 7. Ashish Reddy, 8. Amit Misthra, 9. Dale Steyn, 10. Ishant Sharma, 11. Anand Rajan
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