Sunrisers beat Delhi Capitals by five wickets to register hat-trick of wins in IPL
New Delhi, Apr 4: Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi played a pivotal role as Sunrisers Hyderabad dished out an all-round effort to record a five-wicket win over hosts Delhi Capitals and register their third consecutive victory in the Indian Premier League here Thursday.
Nabi (2/21) took two wickets with the ball and also played a crucial 9-ball 17-run unbeaten knock towards the end to help Sunrisers keep their winning run intact.
By virtue of this win, Sunrisers have moved to the top of the eight-team standings with six points from four games.
Chasing a modest 130, opener Jonny Bairstow smashed a 28-ball 48 to set the foundation but Sunrisers lost five wickets for 48 runs to slip to 111 for five by the end of the 16th over.
Nabi and Yusuf Pathan (9 not out) then held their nerve to take Sunrisers home, scoring 131 for five in 18.3 overs.
The win took Sunrisers' overall head-to-head record against Delhi at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium to 4-1.
Earlier electing to field, Sunrisers dished out a superb bowling effort on a slow and dry wicket to restrict Delhi to a lowly 129 for eight.
It was skipper Shreyas Iyer, who emerged as the highest-scorer for Delhi with a steady 41-ball 43.
Chasing a lowly target, Bairstow got a reprieve early on when Axar Patel dropped a caught and bowl chance in the second over.
The Englishman made Delhi pay for the mistake, blasting a six and a four off Sandeep Lamichhane in the next over. He next took Chris Morris to the cleaners, smashing three boundaries and another hit to the fence in the next over.
Kagiso Rabada was introduced but he too was treated with equal disdain by Bairstow, sending him across the fences thrice as Sunrisers once again didn't lose any wicket in the powerplay, scoring 62 for no loss.
Bairstow was finally dismissed in the seventh over with Rahul Tewatia trapping him in front of the wicket. The opener asked for a review but the decision was not overturned.
Rabada then ended Warner's rampaging run in the tournament by having him caught at mid off.
The hosts then removed Manish Pandey (10) , Vijay Shankar (16) and Deepak Hooda (10) quickly to give themselves a chance of a comeback.
Earlier, Sunrisers bowlers exploited the conditions well, making life difficult for the hosts, who simply failed to get going right from the start on a slow wicket.
Skipper Iyer tried to anchor the innings but he didn't get support from the other end. It would have been more embarrassing for Delhi, if not for the cameos from Morris (17 off 15) and Axar Patel (23 not out off 13).
The pace-spin combination of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2/27) and Nabi gave Sunrisers a good start, restricting Delhi to 19 for one in the first four overs.
After conceding a first ball boundary, Bhuvneshwar came back to clean up Prithvi Shaw in the third over.
Iyer then deposited one at the stands after Siddarth Kaul (2/35) was introduced into the attack, while Shikhar Dhawan hit a four with a sweep shot off Nabi.
But another sweep shot proved costly as Nabi had Dhawan caught at short fine leg by Sandeep Sharma. Delhi thus slumped to 36 for two after the end of the powerplay.
A lot was expected from Rishabh Pant but he too departed just after time-out in the 10th over.
Sandeep Sharma (1/25) then bamboozled Rahul Tewatia with a knuckle ball as Delhi slipped to 61 for four in 11 overs.
In the 14th over, Manish Pandey took a superb catch at point to remove Colin Ingram off Kaul's ball as Delhi lost half their side for 75.
Morris blasted two fours to give some momentum to Delhi's innings but Rashid Khan got rid off Iyer, who tried to sweep across the line and ended up being bowled as Delhi were reduced to 93 for six.
With three overs to go, Morris sent Sandeep Sharma over the mid-wicket area to take Delhi across the 100-run mark.
Once Morris was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar in the 19th over, it was upto Axar Patel to take the score to some respectability and he tried his best, smashing a four and two sixes in the last over to take Delhi close to 130-run mark.
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Cong takes swipe at PM over India not being part of US-led 'Pax Silica' grouping
New Delh (PTI) The Congress on Saturday said it is perhaps not very surprising that India is not part of a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure silicon supply chain, given the "sharp downturn" in the Trump-Modi ties, and asserted that it would have been to "our advantage if we had been part of this group".
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the news of India not being part of the group comes after the PM had enthusiastically posted on social media about a telephone call with his "once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC".
In a lengthy post on X, Ramesh said, "According to some news reports, the US has excluded India from a nine-nation initiative it has launched to reduce Chinese control on high-tech supply chains. The agreement is called Pax Silica, clearly as a counter to Pax Sinica. The nations included (for the moment at least) are the US, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia."
"Given the sharp downturn in the Trump-Modi ties since May 10th, 2025, it is perhaps not very surprising that India has not been included. Undoubtedly, it would have been to our advantage if we had been part of this group."
"This news comes a day after the PM had enthusiastically posted on his telephone call with his once-upon-a-time good friend and a recipient of many hugs in Ahmedabad, Houston, and Washington DC," the Congress leader asserted.
The new US-led strategic initiative, rooted in deep cooperation with trusted allies, has been launched to build a secure and innovation-driven silicon supply chain.
According to the US State Department, the initiative called 'Pax Silica' aims to reduce coercive dependencies, protect the materials and capabilities foundational to artificial intelligence (AI), and ensure aligned nations can develop and deploy transformative technologies at scale.
The initiative includes Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia. With the exception of India, all other QUAD countries -- Japan, Australia and the US -- are part of the new initiative.
New Delhi will host the India-AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20, focusing on the principles of 'People, Planet, and Progress'. The summit, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit, will be the first-ever global AI summit hosted in the Global South.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump on Thursday discussed ways to sustain momentum in the bilateral economic partnership in a phone conversation amid signs of the two sides inching closer to firming up a much-awaited trade deal.
The phone call between the two leaders came on a day Indian and American negotiators concluded two-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement that is expected to provide relief to India from the Trump administration's whopping 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods.
In a social media post, Modi had described the conversation as "warm and engaging".
"We reviewed the progress in our bilateral relations and discussed regional and international developments. India and the US will continue to work together for global peace, stability and prosperity," Modi had said without making any reference to trade ties.
