Visakhapatnam, March 30 (IANS) Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc picked an incredible 5-35, while vice-captain Faf du Plessis hit a delightful 27-ball fifty as an all-round Delhi Capitals secured a clinical seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad to remain unbeaten in IPL 2025 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
On a pitch showing signs of grip, Starc’s three scalps in power play pushed SRH on backfoot early on, before cleaning up the tail to finish with his first five-fer in T20 cricket, with his change of pace being a standout factor of his spell.
Supporting him well were Kuldeep Yadav’s 3-22 and Mohit Sharma’s 1-25. For SRH, uncapped batter Aniket Verma’s brilliant 41-ball 74 and him sharing a 77-run stand off just 40 balls with Heinrich Klaasen were the only bright spots in an innings where the side’s power-packed batting line-up again faltered in their pursuit of making big runs.
In the chase, du Plessis was at his glorious best to hit three fours and as many sixes in his solid half-century coming at a strike-rate of 185.19. He was well-supported by Jake Fraser-McGurk (38), KL Rahul (15), Abishek Porel (34 not out) and Tristan Stubbs (21 not out) as DC completed the chase with four overs to spare. For SRH, debutant leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari shined with 3-42 in his four overs.
Pushed into batting first, Travis Head began by hitting Starc for back-to-back boundaries. But after that, SRH’s slide began as Abhishek Sharma was run-out in a mix-up for one. Starc came in to have Ishan Kishan slashing to deep third man, while local lad Nitish Kumar Reddy toe-ended a loft off his off-cutter to mid-on and Travis Head was caught behind by Rahul while trying to steer over third man.
While Verma was dropped on six off Axar Patel’s bowling, Klaasen brought some relief to SRH by hitting Starc for a four and six respectively, before cutting the DC captain for another boundary and ending the power-play on a high.
After that, Verma thumped and slog-swept Vipraj Nigam for four and six respectively, before hitting Axar for back-to-back sixes – a pull over deep square leg was followed by a thumping maximum down the ground. Verma, with a stable base, then beautifully lofted Mohit for four, while Klaasen welcomed Kuldeep by lofting him down the ground for a superb maximum.
But the 77-run stand was broken by Mohit in the 11th over, as Klaasen tried to hit him over leg-side, but Nigam took a stunning catch by running back from backward point and sent him back for 32. Despite Abhinav Manohar and Pat Cummins falling cheaply to Kuldeep Yadav, Verma brought up his maiden IPL fifty in 34 balls.
Verma continued to impress by going inside-out against Axar for four, before clubbing him for back-to-back sixes and dispatching Kuldeep for another maximum. But on the very next ball, Kuldeep had the last laugh as Fraser-McGurk timed his jump to perfection at deep mid-wicket and dismissed Verma for 74. Starc came back to pick two remaining wickets and complete his five-wicket haul as SRH couldn’t bat for their entire quota of overs.
Fraser-McGurk began the chase by slog-sweeping Abhishek for six, while du Plessis pulled Mohammed Shami for a maximum. Even as Fraser-McGurk struggled to hold his shape and was dropped twice by Verma and Cummins, du Plessis was at his fluent best – dealing in boundaries off Shami, Abhishek and Cummins, against whom his down the ground six made for an amazing watch.
After Fraser-McGurk played an uppish drive off Ansari for four, du Plessis brought up his fifty off 26 balls. But in the next over, the 81-run opening stand was broken by Ansari as du Plessis mistimed his slog to long-on, giving the young leg-spinner his first IPL wicket. Fraser-McGurk took over the attacking mantle by hitting Ansari for two fours and a six, before chipping it right back to the leg-spinner for 38.
Rahul’s life in DC colours began with a streaky boundary on his first ball, before majestically slog-sweeping and lofting Shami for six and four respectively. But Rahul was dismissed for 15 when he went far too across to sweep Ansari, but was castled around his legs and leg-stump being uprooted.
Porel took DC closer to win by whipping Abhishek for four, before clubbing and steering Ansari for six and four respectively. Stubbs lofted Harshal for four, before pulling and unfurling lofted drive off Wiaan Mulder for a brace of fours. Porel ensured DC got over the line by clubbing Mulder for a wonderful six, as the side signed off from their Visakhapatnam home leg on a high.
Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 163 in 18.4 overs (Aniket Verma 74, Heinrich Klaasen 32; Mitchell Starc 5-35, Kuldeep Yadav 3-22) lost to Delhi Capitals 166/3 in 16 overs (Faf du Plessis 50, Jake Fraser-McGurk 38; Zeeshan Ansari 3-42) by seven wickets
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