In a
tournament so far dominated by Indian batsmen, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s international
stars rose to the occasion against the Delhi Capitals to fire the side to their
first victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.

Afghanistan
all-rounder Rashid Khan put in a man-of-the-match performance with the ball, registering
his best IPL figures of three wickets for 14 runs in four overs, while the triumvirate
of Hyderabad’s overseas batsmen, David Warner, Jonny Bairstow and Kane
Williamson, all pitched in with the bat to guide Hyderabad to their first win
of the season.

Also Read: Delhi Capitals captain Shreyas Iyer fined Rs 12 lakh for slow over rate against Sunrisers Hyderabad

Bairstow
top scored with a well-made 53 from 48 deliveries at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium
in Abu Dhabi as Hyderabad posted a humble 162 for the loss of four wickets
after Delhi skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and chose to field.

Skipper Warner
(45 from 33) and Williamson (41 from 26) supported the Englishman well – the three
batsmen combined for 122 runs – after Manish Pandey was cheaply dismissed by spinner
Amit Mishra.

In the second
innings, Rashid made optimal use of the dry conditions as he took the key
wickets of Shikhar Dhawan (34 from 31), Rishabh Pant (28 from 27) and Iyer (17
from 21) after Bhuvaneshwar Kumar removed opener Prithvi Shaw in the first
over.

He
dedicated his man-of-the-match award to his late parents, saying, “It has been
a tough one and a half years for me, first lost my dad and then my mom, three,
four months ago. This performance, this man-of-the-match is for both of them.”

“Mom was
always the biggest fan of cricket, biggest fan of the IPL, she was always
watching me. She enjoyed my wickets and mostly when I got man-of-the -match, whole night she talked with me. It is something I’m missing a lot,” he added.

Also Read: ‘Feels good’: Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner after winning vs Delhi Capitals

Meanwhile, Salem-born
Thangarasu Natarajan impressed with his yorkers, bowling nine of them during his
four overs. In all, Hyderabad bowled 16 yorkers to the Capitals, comfortably
more than any other side in the IPL so far as they restricted Delhi to 147 for
the loss of seven wickets.

Sunrisers
will next take on Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Friday at
the Dubai International Stadium while Delhi will face Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
at the high-scoring Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.