Brilliant attacking fifties by Abhishek Sharma (67 off 36) and Heinrich Klaasen (53 off 27) propelled Sunrisers Hyderabad to 197-6 against Delhi Capitals despite Mitchell Marsh's four-fer (4-27) in Match No. 40 of IPL 2023 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, here on Saturday.
Apart from Abhishek and Klaasen, most of the SRH batters struggled to get going as the team lost wickets at regular intervals. On the other hand, barring Marsh, who bowled a maiden and bagged four wickets, none of the DC bowlers made a mark.
After winning the toss and opting to bat first, SRH were off to a decent start courtesy of opener Abhishek Sharma's attacking approach. They scored 62/2 after the end of the first six overs -- their second-highest powerplay score this season.
While other batters struggled to get going in the Power-play, Abhishek looked in fine touch and gave Delhi bowlers equal treatment, hitting them for some sublime boundaries.
The likes of Mayank Agarwal (5) and Rahul Tripathi (10) disappointed once again, getting out cheaply. The wickets were falling from the other end but despite that, Abhishek decided to continue his aggressive approach and brought up his half-century off 25 balls by hitting six Kuldeep for a six.
However, skipper Aiden Markram, who was dropped by Anrich Nortje at long-off in Kuldeep Yadav's over, couldn't do much as Mitchell Marsh dismissed the South African for 8. With his superb variations, Marsh bagged another wicket when he got rid of Harry Brook (0), who has struggled for most of the season, except for his century knock in one game.
SRH were 83-4 after 9.4 overs with Abhishek at the crease but the left-hander needed some support. Heinrich Klaasen then joined hands with Abhishek and together they smashed Mukesh Kumar for 24 runs in the 11th over to give some much-needed impetus to SRH innings.
Just when it looked that the partnership would flourish for Sunrisers, Abhishek got out to Axar Patel, leaving SRH in deep trouble. However, Klaasen along with Abdul Samad revived the Hyderabad innings with a useful partnership.
Both Klaasen and Samad mostly dealt in sixes and stitched a vital stand of 53 runs before Marsh struck once again to give Delhi a timely breakthrough by getting rid of the Jammu & Kashmir batter.
From there on, Klaasen had the responsibility to finish it well for Sunrisers and he didn't disappoint. The South African batter took Delhi bowlers to cleaners in the last few overs and went on to record his first IPL fifty.
Klaasen was well-aided by Akeal Hosein's unbeaten 10-ball 16 as SRH posted 197-6 in 20 overs, which seems an above-par score for an out-of-form Delhi Capitals batting line-up.
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Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 197-6 in 20 overs (Abhishek Sharma 67, Heinrich Klaasen 53; Mitchell Marsh 4-27) vs Delhi Capitals
