The summary of the match:
As usual Delhi won the toss and chose to field. On this slow sticky wicket this is not a bad decision. They made 162 for 4 wickets, definitely short by 20-25 runs.
Sun Risers had a slow steady start - they could have gone broke and accelerated in the first 8 overs, but they didn’t and chose to have a stable start, which made things difficult in the last 8 overs. Eventually they got out for 147 and lost the match.
- Delhi’s bowling: a) Amit Mishra - 35 for 2 in 4 overs - his length, flight, speed and courage. Great to see a conventional bowler excelling in this format and that shows you dont need to have much mystery always to succeed in t20. Also the pace bowlers bowled a nice length and mixed up the pace in this Abu Dhabi slow sticky pitch. B) Rabada bowled well as well - 2 for 21 in 4 overs.
- Great play: Williamson is a genius - he knows the kind of shots you need to play on this pitch. His chip over extra cover for a boundary against Mishra was brilliant, especially picking of gaps and use of bottom hand. He lacks power but has a great brain and good timing. Very similar to how Sachin would accelerate on a slow pitch.
- Poor play: Bairstow - 53 of 48 balls -played one of the worst innings of his T20 career - it is a huge risk for an opener not to accelerate in the beginning of a T20 match, especially on slow pitches. Bairstow missed a trick here. While Warner started attacking early after the slow start Bairstow went on ploughing. It hurt Sun Risers massively.
- Team selection: Sun Risers’ selection of Williamson in place of Nabi is a good one, something I suggested in one of the previous analyses. But they have another major weakness - the medium pacers. Their issue is their best bowlers / alrounders are foreigners. Their captain and senior players are foreigners. So they cannot afford to drop them and attain balance with equivalent Indian bowlers, which they lack. Though their medium pacers managed well today, in the coming matches to be played on truer wickets, they could still bring in Basil Thampi or Siddharth Kaul in place of Khaleel and Shahbaz Nadeem in place of Garg, who hardly gets to bat and he is not a great striker either. His place in the team is wasted. Or else you could drop Bairstow, and in place of the 4th foreigner you could bring in Fabian Allen, who is a good striker and a sharp T20 spinner. Also bring in the left hander Goswami in place of Garg and open with him, in which scenario you get batting and bowling covered.
Delhi Capitals have a terrific squad - rich with experience and skill in both foreign and Indian players. So they have so much more room and freedom to mix and match, which Sun Risers lack. Sun Risers have not invested enough in the team this time and they are like a roadside தோசைக்கடை - their choices are limited but they did well with that today.
- Sun Risers’ bowling: a) Bhuvneshwar started well and ended well, Khaleel too but faded away in the next few overs, Natraj bowled a brilliant 14th over - 4 terrific yorkers as well as the 18th over (2 wickets). Rasheed as usual was accurate and on the dot. He used the length and bounce very well and kept it straight.
- Slow Delhi Capitals: They made a mistake by starting slow, especially Dhawan. Both Shaw and Shreyas played poor shots. Same applies to Pant - even when he hits on the off side and extra cover area his body is falling away to the leg side. Until he settles down, even wide balls he tries to wack to leg side and misses them. That is how he got out in the end, trying to sweep a straight ball on the middle and off. Despite the 50 plus Hetmyer-Pant partnership the acceleration was not enough.