It was an absolute carnage from Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday as they once again posted a mammoth total before defending it with ease to record their fifth win of IPL 2024. After posting 266/7, SRH bowled out DC for 199 to record an impressive 67-run win.
Put in to bat first, SRH, for the third time this season, posted in excess of 250 runs. Openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma provided a blistering start as the two stitched a partnership of 131 in mere 6.2 overs.
Both Head and Abhishek put up a show for the spectators with their clean striking all around the park as they hit as many as 11 sixes and 13 fours in the powerplay itself.
The very first over of the innings, bowled by Khaleel Ahmed went for 19 which set the tone. The second and third overs were duly smashed for 21 and 22 respectively while the fourth for 21 making it an aggregate of 83 in the first four overs.
The two continued with their ruthless approach and added 42 more in the final two overs of the Powerplay for a record total of 125/0 – the highest in the phase in all of Men’s T20 cricket.
SRH got to the 100-run mark in just five overs which is fastest by a team in T20s.
Moreover, Head’s score of 84 in the powerplay is now the second-highest for anyone in this phase of a men’s T20 innings while he notched up a fifty in just 16 balls which is the joint-fastest for the Sunrisers in IPL. He equalled the record set by Abhishek against MI earlier in the season.
DC finally managed to get the breakthrough in the 7th over after Kuldeep Yadav got two in the same over. He first sent back Abhishek (46 off 12) who was caught at extra cover with Aiden Markram (1 off 3) following soon.
Kuldeep continued with his wicket-taking act and removed Head on the final delivery of the 9th over. Head blasted 89 off 32, an innings decorated with 11 fours and six sixes. The left-handed batter was caught by Tristan Stubbs who took a stunner running in from long-on.
A ball later, Axar Patel cleaned up Heinrich Klaasen for 15 off 8. Klaasen’s departure brought some hope of normalcy in DC dug-out despite the team score being 154/4 in 9.1 overs. But Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed had some other plans and capitalised on the foundation laid by the openers, stitching a stand of 67 for the fifth wicket.
Reddy was eventually dismissed for 37 off 27 by Kuldeep who bagged his fourth wicket but Shahbaz took the onus on himself to take the side to another massive total.
Shahbaz dispatched anything that was bowled in his arc with authority and ended up scoring an unbeaten 59 in 29 deliveries that included five sixes and two fours. Kuldeep eventually returned with figures of 4/55 in four overs for the DC while Axar finished with 1/29 in his four.
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Fraser-McGurk Entertains Home Fans
DC needed their openers to go all guns blazing in the chase but it wasn’t the case. The home side lost both Prithvi Shaw (16 off 5) and David Warner (1 off 3) in the span of two overs and were reduced to 25/2.
But Jake Fraser-McGurk counterattacked brought the chase back on track. The right-handed batter hit the ball a long way during the pre-match practice session which he replicated during the contest.
Fraser-McGurk notched up 65 in just 18 deliveries which included 7 sixes and 5 fours. He thoroughly enjoyed batting against Mayank Markande and smashed three sixes off his bowling to help the side go past 100 runs in the 7th over itself. But the fireworks ended soon enoigh as he was caught by Klaasen while trying another big hit.
Apart from Fraser-McGurk, Abhishek Porel too chipped in with 42 off 22 before he was stumped by Klaasen off Markande.
Capitals lose the plot
While Fraser-McGurk and Porel were out there in the middle, DC looked in control of the chase but once the duo exited, the boundaries dried up and it eventually put pressure on the upcoming batters.
DC captain Rishabh Pant, who had come out to bat at number 6, looked at sea and struggled to score runs quickly even as the asking rate kept rising. The left-handed batter tried to play some innovative strokes but failed to execute them.
T Natarajan provided the finishing touches and scalped three wickets in the penultimate over to finish with a four-fer as DC were bowled out for 199 in 19.1 overs.
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