Live Report - Cummins' efforts go to waste as rain knocks SRH out

The match has been abandoned. SRH are out of the playoffs race, and DC get what could be an extremely valuable point after looking to be down and out.

Pat Cummins led the way with three new-ball wickets and a terrific running catch as Sunrisers Hyderabad limited Delhi Capitals to 133 for 7 after choosing to bowl first in Hyderabad. A grass-free surface at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium proved to be a tricky one, offering enough grip for balls banged into a hard length to nip sideways as well as stop on the batter, and Cummins is a master of banging the ball into a hard length.

The SRH captain took the new ball himself with Mohammed Shami left out, and struck first ball, getting it to straighten and find Karun Nair’s edge. By the time he had bowled 19 balls, Cummins had taken three wickets and Ishan Kishan – keeping for the first time this season, relieving Heinrich Klaasen of the gloves – three catches.

With Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat also getting into the wickets column, DC were gasping at 29 for 5 in the eighth over. The fullish ball Unadkat bowled to dismiss KL Rahul, from left-arm around, summed up the conditions – on nine out of ten IPL pitches, Rahul would have probably middled the drive he attempted; this was the tenth pitch, and the ball straightened to kiss his edge and make Kishan the first keeper to catch out an entire top four in an IPL innings.

Tristan Stubbs anchored DC’s recovery from that point, putting on 33 with Vipraj Nigam for the sixth wicket – Nigam sacrificed his wicket when a mix-up left both batters at the same end – and 66 with Ashutosh Sharma for the seventh.

As they have done in other recent games, DC named a bowler-heavy starting XI despite batting first, and brought Ashutosh off the Impact Player bench when the need arose. And Ashutosh was primarily responsible for a late flourish that brought DC 61 runs off their last six overs, hitting three sixes in a 26-ball 41. Stubbs finished unbeaten on 41 off 36 balls.

Rain began soon after DC’s innings ended, leaving SRH waiting to begin their chase.

He was batting on 26 off 29 at one stage, but a pair of fours off Eshan Malinga in the 18th over move him to 35 off 32, and DC to 115 for 6 with two overs to go.

He's moved to 30 off just 17 balls. A pair of fours off Harshal Patel to finish the 17th over - a forcing punch over the backward point region followed by a chip over mid-off.

Ashutosh Sharma uses his feet to Zeeshan Ansari and hits the legspinner for a pair of straight sixes in the 15th over. SRH move to 86 for 6.

Absolute scenes/cinema/mayhem in Hyderabad. Tristan Stubbs hares back for a second run when Vipraj Nigam does not want it at all. Stubbs just keeps running, and both end up at the same end, the keeper's, when the throw goes to the other one. Vipraj eventually steps out of his crease and allows the more established batter to continue his innings.

The sixth-wicket pair had put on 33 off 30 balls, and not very convincingly, with Vipraj in particular surviving edges and mishits that fell in no man's land. In any case, DC are 62 for 6, and Ashutosh Sharma comes in as their Impact Player. Abishek Porel is subbed out.

This pitch is defying all pre-match expectations. Unadkat goes left-arm around, angles a fullish ball into Rahul, and gets it to straighten. Rahul goes for a drive that he'd middle on nine out of ten pitches, but this is that tenth pitch. Thick edge, and Kishan takes his fourth catch of the evening, a lovely diving effort to his right.

Our stats analyst Namooh Shah points out that this is the first instance in the IPL of an entire top four getting caught by the wicketkeeper in the same innings.

DC are 29 for 5 in 7.1 overs. Can they get past 49?

Pat Cummins doesn't take this wicket, but he can't help but be involved. A Harshal Patel slower ball sticks in the surface, and Axar Patel, looking to launch it over mid-off, gets elevation but no distance, and Cummins backpedals to his right from mid-off and completes a super one-handed grab reaching up.

This combination is on absolute fire today, and DC are 15 for 3 in 4.1 overs. Now it's Abishek Porel's turn. This looks like a length ball on the pads, nothing particularly threatening about it, but some vagary of the surface and what Pat Cummins is getting the ball to do off it cause Porel's attempted flick to balloon high in the air off the leading edge. The ball probably stopped on him. Kishan grabs it after sprinting to where a backward square leg may have stood. Excellent catch.

There's a little bit of extra bounce in this pitch, and Cummins is pounding that hard length. And he's getting the ball to do just a little bit sideways too. Now there's a tiny smidge of inward nip as Faf du Plessis steps out and looks to swat the ball leg side, and he sends a little bottom edge through to the keeper.

Ishan Kishan, keeping instead of Heinrich Klaasen today, grabs his second catch of the match. DC are 6 for 2 in 2.1 overs.

Nice adjustment in length from Cummins there too. Saw Faf coming and shortened his length a little. This would go down as a short ball but it has the effect of a back-of-a-length ball given the batter's position.

What a start to the match. Pat Cummins starts off with the new ball, with no Shami in SRH's attack, and he strikes straightaway. Typical Cummins delivery, back of a length in the corridor, a bit of away seam, maybe some extra bounce too, and Karun Nair hangs his bat out tentatively and nicks off. Neither a defensive shot nor an attacking shot, and DC are 0 for 1.

Pat Cummins, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, has chosen to bowl against Delhi Capitals on a grass-free Hyderabad pitch that is expected to be full of runs.

SRH rang in the changes from their XII against Gujarat Titans three days ago. Out went Nitish Kumar Reddy, who has endured a quiet season, and Mohammed Shami, who conceded 48 in three overs before being subbed out. Kerala top-order batter Sachin Baby came in for his first game of the season, while Abhinav Manohar returned to the middle order. There was one change among the overseas players too, with fast bowler Eshan Malinga replacing his Sri Lankan compatriot Kamindu Mendis. Travis Head, who starts on the bench, is likely to be SRH’s Impact player.

SRH tweeted after the toss that Reddy missed out due to illness.

DC, as has been the case of late, named a bowler-heavy line-up despite batting first, with Ashutosh Sharma ready to come off the bench should the need arise. Left-arm quick T Natarajan, formerly an SRH player, makes his first appearance for DC, replacing Mukesh Kumar.

The two teams went into the game with contrasting bowling strategies. SRH picked only one spinner in Zeeshan Ansari, while DC went in with three, in Kuldeep Yadav, Vipraj Nigam and their captain Axar Patel.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Ishan Kishan (wk), 3 Sachin Baby, 4 Heinrich Klaasen, 5 Aniket Verma, 6 Abhinav Manohar, 7 Pat Cummins (capt), 8 Harshal Patel, 9 Zeeshan Ansari, 10 Eshan Malinga, 11 Jaydev Unadkat.
Impact Subs bench: Mohammed Shami, Harsh Dubey, Travis Head, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder.

Delhi Capitals: 1 Faf du Plessis, 2 Karun Nair, 3 Abishek Porel (wk), 4 KL Rahul, 5 Axar Patel (capt), 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Vipraj Nigam, 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Dushmantha Chameera, 10 Kuldeep Yadav, 11 T Natarajan.
Impact subs bench: Ashutosh Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Sameer Rizvi, Mukesh Kumar.