Sunrisers Hyderabad brought out their best performance of the season to pulverise Delhi Capitals by 88 runs at the Dubai International Stadium on Tuesday.

The result keeps Sunrisers in the hunt for a playoffs berth. The Capitals, on the other hand, are now entangled in a hat-trick of losses and have slipped to the third spot in IPL 2020 standings. They have the same number of points — 14 — as Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, but have an inferior net run rate.

The Capitals opted to bowl first, assuming that the conditions could get even better for batting later because of the dew. But Sunrisers captain David Warner (66 off 34 balls) and Wriddhiman Saha (87 off 45 balls), in only his second appearance this season, punished the formidable Capitals attack like few have done this IPL.

Buoyed by a superb start, Sunrisers put up a mammoth 219/2 in 20 overs.

The chase was always going to be difficult for Capitals, and it became even harder when an in-form Shikhar Dhawan departed off the very first ball he faced, beaten by Sandeep Sharma’s swing. Capitals, who were almost unstoppable in the first half of the tournament, never recovered thereafter.

The Sunrisers attack, led by Rashid Khan (4-0-7-3), kept chipping in as the Delhi team lost half their side with just 78 on board.

It was just a matter of time from there on before Warner’s boys wrapped up the game. In the end, Capitals were bundled out for 131.

Courtesy the two points earned from this match, Sunrisers moved up to sixth in the standings. The race for the playoffs gets more interesting with every game.

Capitals promoted power-hitters Marcus Stoinis, Shimron Hetmyer and Rishabh Pant up the order to force the pace of scoring, but the pressure was just too much on them.

The day belonged to Sunrisers’ opening pair of Warner and Saha. Birthday boy Warner, expectedly, outscored Saha initially, not even sparing Kagiso Rabada. Hammering eight fours and two sixes, the skipper departed in the 10th over after sharing a 107-run stand with Saha.

But his dismissal had no effect on Saha. His job was never easy as he had to replace someone like Jonny Bairstow, but never one to shy away from a challenge, Saha took it head on and just relied on his strengths to score runs.

Unfortunately for Saha, he couldn’t keep wickets due to a groin niggle.

MoM: Took my chances

Wriddhiman Saha’s 87 off 45 balls earned him the Man of the Match award on Tuesday. More importantly, his 107-run opening stand with David Warner laid the foundation for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s comprehensive victory over Delhi Capitals.

“I got the opportunity for the second time this year and I took my chances in the Powerplay for the team... That’s it,” Saha said.

“Initially the ball was holding a bit and after that it eased out and went our way.

“It’s easy to play when there’s Warner at the other end,” he said.