PICS: Nabi steers Sunrisers to third straight win

Images from Thursday's IPL match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals in New Delhi. 

Afghanistan's Mohammad Nabi played a pivotal role as Sunrisers Hyderabad dished out an all-round effort to score a five-wicket victory over hosts Delhi Capitals and register their third consecutive victory in the Indian Premier League, in Delhi, on Thursday.

- SCORECARD

Nabi (2/21) took two wickets and scored a crucial 9-ball unbeaten 17 towards the end to help Sunrisers keep their winning run intact.

The victory took Sunrisers 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.

However, Nabi and Yusuf Pathan (9 not out) held their nerve to take Sunrisers home as they finished with 131 for five in 18.3 overs.

The victory extended Sunrisers's overall head-to-head record against Delhi at the Ferozshah Kotla stadium to 4-1.

Bairstow got a reprieve early on when Axar Patel dropped a caught-and-bowled chance in the second over. The Englishman made Delhi pay for the mistake, blasting a six and 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 did not lose a wicket in the powerplay, in which they scored 62 for no loss.

Bairstow was finally dismissed in the seventh over, 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, 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 dished out a superb bowling effort to restrict the hosts to 129 for eight.

The Sunrisers bowlers exploited the conditions well, making life difficult for Delhi, who simply failed to get going on a slow wicket.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer tried to anchor the innings with a steady 41-ball 43 but did not get support from the other end.

It would have been more embarrassing for Delhi had Chris Morris (17 off 15) and Axar Patel (23 not out off 13) not come up with little cameos.

The pace-spin combination of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Nabi gave Sunrisers a good start, restricting Delhi to 19 for one in first four overs after the visitors won the toss and elected to field.

After conceding a first ball boundary, Bhuvneshwar came back to clean up Prithvi Shaw in the third over.

Skipper Iyer then deposited one in the stands after Siddarth Kaul was introduced into the attack, while Shikha 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 as Delhi slumped to 36 for two after the end of the powerplay.

A lot was expected from Rishabh Pant but he too departed just after the strategic time-out in the 10th over. Trying an inside-out shot, he holed out to Deepak Hooda at long off as Nabi completed his spell with impressive figures of 4-0-21-2.

Sandeep Sharma 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 delivery and Delhi had lost half their side for 75.

Chris 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-mark.

Once Morris was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar in the 19th over, it was upto Axar Patel to give the score some respectability and he tried his best, smashed a four and a last-ball six to take Delhi close to 130-run mark.