‘I am sorry Babu’- Fans react as David Warner, Rovman Powell star in Delhi’s 21-run win over Hyderabad

A high-scoring thriller at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai between Delhi and Hyderabad saw the former winning it by 21 runs on Thursday. Delhi batted first and notched a huge score of 207 runs in the first innings and later restricted Hyderabad to 186 runs in the second innings. With that win, Delhi have now earned five wins in 10 matches and strengthened their case for reaching the playoffs.

Chasing a gigantic 207-run total, Hyderabad needed a good start but Kane Williamson’s batting woes continued with the bat. Abhishek Sharma was the first one to depart, though.

Khaleel Ahmed had him in the second over, while Anrich Nortje had Williamson (4 off 11) caught behind in the 5^th over to leave Hyderabad reeling at 24 for 2. Two overs later, Rahul Tripathi (22 off 18) pulled one straight into the hands of Shardul Thakur to leave Hyderabad in all sorts of trouble at 37 for 3.

However, Nicholas Pooran then joined hands with Aiden Markram and the duo raised the team’s hopes with a 60-run partnership. Aiden Markram was the aggressor in the partnership as he smacked some well-timed shots. Markram’s stay, however, was ended by Kuldeep Yadav in the 13^th over to get Delhi back on top. The South African compiled 42 runs in just 25 balls.

Nicholas Pooran, however, kept the hopes alive with an outstanding knock of 62 runs in just 34 balls. He wreaked havoc with the bat and looked like singlehandedly taking the team home.

However, the West Indies skipper, unfortunately, got out caught in the 18^th over off Shardul Thakur. And, once the West Indies skipper departed, it was all but over for Hyderabad. In the end, they fell 21 runs short of the target.

Earlier, after being put into bat first, Delhi notched a gigantic score of 207 runs in the first innings. They didn’t make a great start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar had Mandeep Singh caught behind in the first over of the innings. Shaun Marsh too couldn’t stay for too long either as he got out in the 5^th over after scoring 10 runs in 7 balls.

However, David Warner held firm at one end and was in no mood get out early. He was watchful in the first few overs before turning gears. Warner and Pant made a great recovery after the early wickets as the duo added 48 runs in just 28 balls.

Pant scored the major chunk of the runs in that partnership as he smashed 22 runs in 4 balls off Shreyas Gopal before getting out on the last ball of the same over. Once again, Rishabh Pant (26 off 16), the skipper failed to convert the start into a big score. After 9 overs, Delhi had lost 3 wickets for 85 runs.

David Warner needed an able partner to stitch a solid partnership and there couldn’t be a better one than Rovman Powell. The duo put on an exhibition of sixes, from there on, and wreaked havoc at Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. Rovman Powell was interested only in hitting sixes as he smashed the best score of his Indian T20 League career. Powell went on to play an unbeaten knock of 67 runs in 35 balls, including 3 fours and 6 sixes.

On the other hand, Warner played all 20 overs and produced one of the best knocks of his career. He played an unbeaten knock of 92 runs in 56 balls, a knock which was studded with 12 fours and 3 sixes.

As a result of those contributions, Delhi managed to notch a mammoth score on the board. The Delhi fans, on Twitter, were delighted to see their team getting over the line, while some were in awe of Nicholas Pooran’s master-class knock. Here’s a look at some of the top reactions:

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