A fine all round performance by Marcus Stoinis, aided by valuable contributions from Shikhar Dhawan and Kagiso Rabada as Delhi Capitals reached their maiden IPL final by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 17 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Delhi Capitals included Shimron Hetmyer and Praveen Dubey in place of Daniel Sams and Prithvi Shaw, while Sunrisers went in with an unchanged line up.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Delhi Capitals choose to promote Stoinis up the order, with the Australian opening along side Shikhar Dhawan.
The Australian all rounder who was dropped on 3 by Jason Holder at silly mid-on, took full advantage as he and Dhawan added 86 runs for the opening wicket, before the former was castled by Rashid Khan for a well made 38.
In the 14th over, Jason Holder accounted for the Delhi skipper Shreyas Iyer for a 20-ball 21.
The pair of Shimron Hetmyer and Shikhar Dhawan added 52 runs for the third wicket, before the latter perished to Sandeep Sharma for an superb 78 (50), even though replays suggested that the ball struck him outside the line.
Hetmyer smashed an unbeaten 22 ball 42 to take Delhi Capitals to an imposing score of 189/3 at the end of their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing 190, SRH choose another new combination, with India U-19 captain Priyam Garg asked to open along side David Warner. Kagiso Rabada provided DC a vital breakthrough back by dismissing the in form Warner in the 2nd over.
Priyam Garg and Manish Pandey added 31 runs for the second wicket, before the former was bowled by Stoinis for 17.
Manish Pandey looked good in his innings of 21, before he became Stoinis second victim.
The pair of Kane Williamson and Jason Holder put on 46 runs for the fourth wicket, before the latter was dismissed by Axar Patel in the 12th over.
Williamson brought up his half century in just 35 balls to keep Sunrisers in the hunt.
Abdul Samad was an able foil to Williamson, as the pair added 57 runs before the 31 year old claimed the prize scalp of New Zealand skipper Williamson for an entertaining 67 (45)
Samad and Rashid Khan kept SRH in the game with some lusty blows, but Kagiso Rabada claimed 3 wickets in the penultimate over to seal victory for DC.
Delhi thus reached their maiden final as Sunrisers were restricted to 172/8.
Marcus Stoinis was declared the Player of the Match.