SRH were powered by Abhishek's second IPL hundred and Klaasen's cameo after losing yet another toss - all seven so far this season - to score 242. DC were never really in the chase, apart from a few overs when they were near the DLS par score with drizzle around. But once Rahul and Rana fell in quick succession, their chase unravelled quickly.

SRH have now won three in a row, after a poor start to the season, and are below PBKS and RCB and above RR. They have played a game extra than most of the others though.

Axar Patel says his bowlers did not execute their plans, and if you don't execute there's not much that can be done. Says the fielding and catching could have been better and made a difference.

Eshan Malinga: We came with the same plan as the last game, as the ball gets older we get reverse, my mindset was also calm, to execute the plans. When I see the ball, one side is damage, I know reverse will come into the game, I try to reverse swing and get the wicket. Lasith Malinag worked with us in the last couple of months in Sri Lanka.

Shahed: "A word of appreciation for Ishan Kishan's captaincy - largely going unnoticed"

Murali : "Everyone was talking about how weak and inexperienced SRH bowling was, now they are the only team winning all matches defending "

Ishan Kishan at the presentation: Looking at how Abhishek batted, and Klaasen finishing it off on such a wicket, it's not easy for a new batter to hit when he coms in ... all the credit to Abhishek. The discussion is to take it match by match, give ourselves two three balls to understand the wicket and then watch the ball and play our game. I wanted the ratio of runs and balls to get as far as possible before bowling Harsh, I spoke to him and told him he will be bowling those crucial overs ...

Abhishek Sharma is the Player of the Match: The way we started, we had a plan, we wanted to use the powerplay, but the wicket was a bit slow so we had to re-plan, we had match-ups in mind too ... wanted to use the powerplay, you don't know what a par score is ...but I love playing here and want to entertain the crowd. Special mention to the team coaches and captain, we can just express ourselves ... the environment we had at SRH from 2024 was a gamechanger for us, I always wanted to play like this, for Punjab as well. Playing for Hyderabad has always felt like that. I've been doing this L celebration for long now, it's just for the love we get from the stadium. From my under-12 days, my dad has been sitting in front of the screen and telling me how to play, I want the cameras to show his reactions, will be a lot of fun!

So, match 31 done, SRH rise to #3, DC stay at #5. Royals have an opportunity to reclaim third place when they play LSG tomorrow in Lucknow. Thank you for all your emails through the course of the game, good night!

Ngidi to face the final ball of the match.

Aravind: "Those 9 balls for 2 runs and 3 wickets of Rahul, Rana and Miller made the difference today. Malinga for MoM surely!" As good as Malinga was, the award will be Abhishek's.