Jake Fraser-McGurk, the young Australian sensation, played a blinder to give Delhi Capitals a slim chance to pull off a miraculous chase. But the right-handed power-hitter proved to be an exception on a night dominated by left-handers.
Sunrisers’ left-handed quartet — openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmed and pacer T. Natarajan — ensured the Sunrisers climbed to the second spot with a facile 67-run win at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
Head’s and Abhishek’s sensational strokeplay fetched a whopping 125 — the highest in the first six overs in T20 history. It was Sunrisers’ third 250-plus total of the season and also the fourth highest tally in the IPL. Despite spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel pulling things back immediately after the PowerPlay, the damage had been done.
Head blew hot from the word go. He missed a heave off Khaleel Ahmed’s first delivery but once he connected the next which sailed into the stands, the Capitals players were left fetching the ball from outside the boundary ropes. While Head stormed to his fifty in the third over, off just 14 balls, Abhishek made the most of the strike that came his way by going after Kuldeep, who was introduced in the fifth over. The PowerPlay overs saw Head and Abhishek hit 13 fours and 11 sixes and Capitals could bowl just five dot balls. Despite Kuldeep and Axar striking four times in 18 balls, Shahbaz and Nitish Kumar Reddy ensured the Sunrisers ended the innings on a high to post a daunting 266 for seven. Fraser-McGurk extended his previous night’s net session into a range-hitting exhibition to leave the fans spellbound. At the halfway stage, Capitals rattled up 138 and also had another left-hander — Rishabh Pant — at the crease. But the Capitals skipper was scratchy throughout, pegging the team back. Natarajan mopped up the tail to finish with figures of 4-1-19-4, his best in the IPL on a dazzling night for Sunrisers.
Teams
Delhi Capitals: David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Abishek Porel, Rishabh Pant (w/c), Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Anrich Nortje, Khaleel Ahmed, Mukesh Kumar.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen (w), Abdul Samad, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins (c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, T Natarajan.
