Visakhapatnam, March 30: Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc picked an incredible 5-35 to help Delhi Capitals bowl out Sunrisers Hyderabad for 163 in 18.4 overs in match 10 of IPL 2025 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

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 was the lone positive in an innings where the power-packed batting line-up again faltered in their pursuit of making big runs.

Pushed into batting first, Travis Head began in swashbuckling fashion 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 back and got two wickets in quick fashion – Ishan Kishan slashing to deep third man, while local lad Nitish Kumar Reddy toe-ended a loft on an off-cutter to mid-on.

In his third over, Starc was again on a rampage as he had Travis Head caught behind by KL Rahul while trying to steer over third man and dismiss his team-mate from the Australian side for the sixth time in professional cricket.

While Verma was dropped on six off Axar Patel’s bowling, Heinrich Klaasen brought some relief to SRH by hitting Starc for a four and six respectively, before cutting the DC captain for another boundary and end 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 Vipraj Nigam took a stunning catch by running back from backward point and send 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 Jake 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, giving DC a real chance of winning the match.

Brief Score: Sunrisers Hyderabad 163/10 in 18.4 overs (Aniket Verma 74, Heinrich Klaasen 32; Mitchell Starc 5-35, Kuldeep Yadav 3-22) against Delhi Capitals

--IANS

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