Hyderabad’s Kane Williamson Stamps His Class Over Delhi Daredevils 

Hyderabad: Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs to go to second place on the IPL table with eight points in a tug-of-war match at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabadon on Wednesday.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s scored 191/4, courtesy a 51-ball 89 by Kane Williamson and a 50-ball 70 from Shikhar Dhawan. Williamson and Shikhar Dhawan could set a 136-run partnership for the second wicket. Kane Williamson smashed five sixes, three more than anyone else in the match.

However, Delhi Daredevils lost wickets at regular intervals and crashed to a 15-run defeat despite Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 50. Delhi Daredevils are fourth on the chart with four points.

Kane Williamson, a technically correct batsmen, with clean hitting and minimal improvisation does as much damage as anyone in world cricket. Hyderabadis enjoyed yet another Williamson classic.

Given the cruel restrictions of franchise cricket, which only allows four foreign players, and with Sunrisers Hyderabad wanting to play three all-rounders apart from skipper David Warner, even someone of the calibre of Williamson had to sit out for the first five matches of the season. However, when he was eventually drafted into the side, he filled up all the gaping holes that were present in Hyderabad's batting.

What does Williamson bring to an already strong SRH line-up?

Without doing anything out of the ordinary, the New Zealander smacked five huge sixes, three more than any other player in the match enroute his fine 51-ball 89. Along with Shikhar Dhawan, who has been scratchy this season, Williamson added 136 runs for the second wicket and laid the platform for the late flourish. In the end, it was his innings which made the difference as Delhi Daredevils fell 15 runs short of their total in the chase.

Given the big-hitting prowess of the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Deepak Hooda and Moises Henriques, Williamson's stable presence offers a good balance to the line-up, not to forget that he scores at a fair clip as well. Given that their bowlers have been impressive more often than not, Williamson may have booked himself a place in the starting XI for some time now with this innings.

What Williamson said about the innings:

"The guys have been doing really well... fortunate to get a game. The conditions were good and important that we got a good score batting first. Partnership was the key and guys really carried it well towards the end. I was trying to play the situation as well as I could. I suppose once the platform was built it was to increase the run rate. Partnership with the ball in hand, fielding is equally important."