Khaleel Ahmed’s brilliant spell went in vain as Delhi Capitals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in a thrilling Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday.

Courtesy of this win, Delhi sealed a place in Qualifier 2, where they will lock horns against Chennai Super Kings, who had earlier lost to Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1.

Left-arm pacer Khaleel was once again impressive for Hyderabad as he ended with figures of 2/24 in 2.5 overs. He scalped the wickets of Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw in one over to change the course of the match briefly before Rishabh Pant’s onslaught took Delhi home.

After getting rid of the two Delhi batsmen, Khaleel came up with an unusual telephone celebration, which according to some social media users was meant for Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chief selector MSK Prasad.

What do you reckon Khaleel was trying to convey to Shreyas?#Eliminator #DCvSRH pic.twitter.com/vELwzcxmIw

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 8, 2019

He’s was trying to call MSK Prasad (Chief selector) that he’s still available in place of Bhuvi or may be Jadhav

— कपिल चौहान (@Im_KapilChauhan) May 8, 2019

He trying to tell the slectors that he also here for #CWC19 if you need

— Rizwan Hashim 🇵🇰 (@RizwanHashim15) May 8, 2019

Oh Iyer,
Can you call #wc selectors and tell about my #IPL12 performance -khaleel on phone after taking wicket of Shreyas!

— @AB D ul (@rehaman_333) May 9, 2019

World up calling for khaleel

— Hitesh Sufi (@SufiHitesh) May 8, 2019

Call up for world cup demand maybe

— The IPL Tweeter _ Prithvi Shaw (@psm_0938) May 8, 2019

Khaleel ended his IPL campaign with 19 wickets and currently stands at the fourth spot in the IPL purple cap list. But Khaleel isn’t part of the 15-member India squad for the ICC World Cup 2019 and some fans feel he has done enough to secure a place in the side.

First Published: May 09, 2019 14:08 IST