Visakhapatnam: Vice-captain Faf du Plessis top-scored with a delightful 27-ball fifty as an all-round Delhi Capitals trounced Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets to remain unbeaten in IPL 2025 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
After Mitchell Starc’s incredible 5-35 and Kuldeep Yadav’s 3-22 helped DC bowl out SRH for 163 in their 18.4 overs, 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.
Chasing 164, Fraser-McGurk began by slog-sweeping Abhishek Sharma for six, while Faf du Plessis pulled Mohammed Shami for a maximum. Even as Fraser-McGurk struggled to hold his shape and was dropped twice by Aniket Verma and Pat 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 Zeeshan 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 saw his leg-stump 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
(IANS)
