Live Report - Delhi Capitals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

It's an excellent final over from Bhuvneshwar, barring that one delivery that was walloped into the second tier over deep midwicket. Sunrisers have held on to win by nine runs, ending a streak of five straight losses against the Capitals stretching back to 2020. They've also arrested their three-match losing streak in the process to remain alive in the competition. The Capitals remain rooted to the bottom and are now in a must-win territory.

But they did have more than just a shout in this match. Mitch Marsh and Phil Salt put them miles ahead with a counter-attacking 112 run stand off just 11.1 overs, before Markande left an indelible mark over proceedings with his three-for to snuff out any fight.

First Mayank Markande broke a 112-run stand with Phil Salt's wicket. An attempt to flat-bat a shortish ball led to a return catch that Markande just about managed to hold on to as he tumbled.

Seven balls later, Manish Pandey runs down the pitch only for Abhishek Sharma to shorten his length and beat him both in the air and off the pitch for Heinrich Klaasen to effect a simple stumping.

From 112/1, Capitals rocked at 115 for 3.

Mitch Marsh thinks he's nailed a six. Until he sees Harry Brook leap high one handed to try and catch that flat hit. He gets his hand on it, but realises almost immediately that he'll skip over. So readjusts and throws the ball back up as he goes over the hoardings. That's just half the job. Then he quickly realises there's a catch to complete, but the power he generated in trying to flick the ball back meant he couldn't quite grab the rebound. But hey, he's saved five runs for the side. It was his brilliance that made it possible in the first place.

After 5 overs, ESPNcricinfo's forecaster pegged their chances at 19.43%. Two overs later, it has jumped to 45.68%. Part of the reason is this Umran Malik over immediately after the power play.

Kept bowling short and kept bowling down leg, Marsh simply used his pace to pick them over long leg for two sixes. Umran Malik's first over cost 22. Phil Salt too opened and closed the over with two bludgeoning hits down the ground. The first a flat-bat, the second a proper punch down the ground. Capitals are motoring along.

Marsh and Phil Salt have taken the attack to the bowlers. The half-century of the partnership is raised in just 31 balls. Sunrisers have tried to have three overs of Akeal Hosein's left-arm spin inside the first six seemingly mindful of dew. But he's struggled for consistency and has tended to be far too short. His three wicketless overs have cost 30. Capitals 57/1 in six overs.

A second-ball duck for the Capitals' skipper. Warner is looking to be ultra-aggressive from get-go, as he should be in a tall chase. He shapes to pull but the ball isn't all that short and he ends up chopping on.

As much as it was Abhishek's knock that turbocharged them, the finish wouldn't have been possible without Klaassen's half-century. Akeal Hosein made a 10-ball 16 not out as well.

Figures of 3-0-31-1 for him. Was taken to the cleaners by Abhishek Sharma in his second over, and won't bowl out tonight. Sarfaraz Khan comes in as the Impact Sub.

Gets clubbed in the over for six over deep midwicket, but has Abdul Samad two balls later to a leg-cutter that holds onto the surface and has the batter nicking behind.

The over following Marsh's double-strike, the 11th, went off 24 with Heinrich Klaasen and Abhishek Sharma making merry. The over after Abhishek's dismissal for 67, Abdul Samad runs down the pitch to loft Kuldeep into the sight screen. Sunrisers perhaps realise they need as many in the bag slowness of the wicket notwithstanding because of dew.

The short boundaries haven't dissuaded Mitch Marsh from bowling cutters into the wicket. It's helped him open up the game with two massive strikes in the space of three deliveries.

First, Markram's out dragging a pull from outside off to deep midwicket. Then Harry Brook toe-ends a pull to midwicket. Both times it was Axar Patel the catcher. He made the Brook catch seem tougher than it was because he initially misjudged the pace at which it was coming to him. Ended up juggling it at head height before pocketing it on the second attempt.

The two wickets haven't had any effect on Abhishek as he carries along merrily, cutting and pulling Mukesh Kumar for back-to back boundaries in the 11th. Sunrisers are still decently placed at 93 for 4.

Potentially a huge moment in the match. Kuldeep Yadav comes on immediately after the power play and tosses the ball up. Markram looks to go downtown but has hit it straight to long-off where Nortje puts down a sitter. With them having crossed over, Abhishek then sweeps Kuldeep off his length by depositing one into the stands at deep midwicket ro bring up a 25-ball half-century.

Abhishek Sharma's taken Ishant to the cleaners. He's hit 43 of Sunrisers' 62 runs in the Powerplay. Pace on the ball is disappearing. Vital for the bowlers to vary their pace. Wonder if Mustafizur would've been a good bet on this surface. For now, it's advantage Sunrisers despite the loss of Mayank Agaral & Rahul Tripathi.

Ishant Sharma's IPL comeback continues to be a happy one. He's given Capitals a breakthrough in his second over. And it's a good ball too. Mayank Agarwal looks to take on the short ball bowled into the body but gets into a bit of a tangle as he looks to pull, ends up gloving it through to Phil Salt. He just couldn't time it during his short stay.

That's a question Sunrisers will have to ask themselves sooner than later. In the very first over itself, we've seen the two-paced nature of this deck show up. Ishant, with his high release point, wasn't able to bounce it over knee-height. The slower ball that he bowled off the final ball rolled thrice to the keeper. A ball prior to that, Abhishek Sharma looked to drive but the ball held up to roll back off the inside edge.

As it turns out, it's the low bounce that has nearly cost Mayank Agarwal. The ball from Anrich Norje nipped back in but kept low to strike the front pad as he pushed forward. He reviewed just within the 15-second mark and is reprieved big time as impact is outside off.

These two sides met in the first leg less than five days ago, with Capitals pulling off victory from under the Sunrisers miraculously in a low-scoring game. Warner, playing against his former franchise, was visibly pumped in the aftermath.

The man who kept Sunrisers in the hunt that evening, Washington Sundar, is out for the rest of the season. Sunrisers have handed a debut to West Indies allrounder Akeal Hosein. Capitals have handed a debut to Priyam Garg, who previously played for the Sunrisers.

Capitals: DA Warner*, PD Salt†, MR Marsh, MK Pandey, AR Patel, PK Garg, RV Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, A Nortje, I Sharma, Mukesh Kumar

Impact Players: Lalit Yadav, Abishek Porel, Khaleel Ahmed, Praveen Dubey, Sarfaraz Khan

Sunrisers: MA Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, RA Tripathi, AK Markram*, H Klaasen†, HC Brook, Abdul Samad, M Markande, B Kumar, AJ Hosein, Umran Malik

Impact Players: Vivrant Sharma, Marco Jansen, Mayank Dagar, T Natarajan and Glenn Phillips

Who better than Anil Kumble to read this surface for us. His breakthrough game in the Irani Cup that put him in the Test frame was here. It's here that he got that famous 10-for against Pakistan. He thinks this will be a typical Kotla deck that has plenty of cracks. He thinks some dryness will bring spinners onto play. The typical sheen we've seen so far is missing, he feels.