SRH vs DC, IPL 2023: Axar Patel, Anrich Nortje Help DC Seal Second Win, Beat SRH By 7 Runs

Washington Sundar's allround effort went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad made heavy weather of a below-par chase to go down to Delhi Capitals by seven runs, their third defeat in a row in the IPL, on Monday. The offspin allrounder Sundar (4-0-28-3) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-11-2) exposed the batting frailties of Delhi Capitals' in the first half of the game to restrict them to 144/9 after David Warner opted to bat. But an inexplicable batting approach in which SRH never looked to dominate led to their downfall as they were restricted to 137/6.

Having lost half of their side for 85 runs in 14.1 overs, SRH's recovery was led by Heinrich Klaasen (31; 19b, 3x4, 1x6) and Sundar who came up with 15-ball 24 not out (3x4s).

But it proved not enough as Anrich Nortje (4-0-33-2) dismissed his South African temmate, before Mukesh Kumar bowled a terrific last over to defend 13 runs to hand Delhi a narrow yet thrilling second consecutive win of the season.

Delhi, who began the season with a five-match losing streak, however stayed at the bottom of the table with four points.

Kolkata Knight Riders and SRH, who too have four points, remained ahead on net run-rate. Harry Brook's largely disappointing IPL debut season extended further and Mayank Agarwal (49) failed to make the most of two lifelines.

Delhi Capitals gradually strengthened their grip on the game by taking four wickets -- Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi (15), Abhishek Sharma (5) and Aiden Markam (3) in quick succession in the middle overs, and allowing a mere three fours between overs 5 to 15 which highlighted SRH's plight.

Agarwal got an early lifeline when Mitchell Marsh could not hold onto a tough chance on his right, at first slip off Ishant Sharma in the opening over.

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