Delhi Daredevils kept alive their slender hopes of qualifying for the play-offs after Karun Nair guided them to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad with a 59-ball unbeaten 83 in a do-or-die Indian Premier League match that went down to the wire here tonight.
Chasing 159, Daredevils rode on Nair's knock to secure a last-ball win against the butter-fingered Sunrisers Hyderabad who dropped two easy chances, though Barinder Sran pulled off one of the best catches of the tournament.
After Mustafizur Rahman conceded just five runs in the penultimate over, Daredevils needed 11 off the final six deliveries bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
The seamer had a good start, but a composed Nair managed to hit boundaries off the final two deliveries to help Delhi cross the line. Nair hit eight boundaries and three sixes.
Daredevils remained on sixth position with seven wins from 13 games, while Sunrisers stayed at the top despite the reverse.
Daredevils were off to a bad start as they lost Quinton de Kock (2) cheaply in the second over.
The young duo of Karun Nair and Rishabh Pant (32) then shared a 73-run partnership for the second wicket to keep Daredevils in the hunt. Nair and Pant managed to hit the occasional boundaries.
While Sran gave Sunrisers the opening breakthrough, the bowler was hit for two boundaries by Nair in the following over to keep the pressure on him. Nair then clobbered Moises Henriques's short delivery for a big six over square leg.
At the end of the 10th over, Daredevils were 68 for two, needing 91 runs from 60 balls at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.
Two overs went without a boundary after that six by Nair till Pant dispatched a short ball from leg-spinner Karn Sharma through the midwicket region. That was the last time Pant would find the fence as he was run out due to a good piece of fielding by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Pant struck three boundaries in his 26-ball knock.
Nair tried to wrest the momentum back by hitting Deepak Hooda's full toss through midwicket for a four. JP Duminy swept Karn Sharma, and the ball raced to the boundary despite David Warner's full-length dive.
Nair reached his half century with a single. Luck was on Nair's side as Warner dropped an easy catch just after the batsman reached his fifty.
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 "Karun Nair")
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