A spirited late recovery led by Tristan Stubbs and Ashutosh Sharma helped Delhi Capitals post 133 for 7 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Match 55 of the Indian Premier League 2025, after a top-order collapse triggered by Pat Cummins threatened to derail the innings entirely.
Having opted to bowl first, SRH were off to a dream start as captain Cummins removed Karun Nair for a golden duck. He followed it up by dismissing Faf du Plessis (3) and Abishek Porel (8), both caught behind by Ishan Kishan, reducing DC to 15/3 by the fifth over.
The carnage continued when Axar Patel (6) and KL Rahul (10) fell in successive overs, both attempting ambitious strokes and perishing to Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat respectively-as Delhi crumbled to 29 for 5 by the eighth over.
It was then that Stubbs (41 not out off 26 balls) and Vipraj Nigam (18 off 17) stitched together a gritty stand, before a mixup led to Nigam’s run out. Ashutosh Sharma joined Stubbs and counter-attacked with a brisk 41 off 26 balls, including three sixes and two fours, injecting the much-needed momentum into the innings.
Sharma slammed two sixes off Zeeshan Ansari and powered DC past 100 with a series of audacious shots. His innings ended in the penultimate over when he mistimed a pull off Eshan Malinga and holed out to Abhinav Manohar at deep mid-wicket.
Stubbs closed the innings with a boundary off the final ball, taking Delhi to a total that seemed improbable midway through the innings.
Cummins was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 19 from four incisive overs. Jaydev Unadkat (1/13), Harshal Patel (1/36), and Malinga (1/28) chipped in, while Zeeshan Ansari kept things tight with a frugal spell despite going wicketless.
Delhi’s innings featured only 10 boundaries and four sixes, with the bulk of the scoring coming in the last 10 overs. At one point 62 for 6, DC added 71 runs in the final 8 overs to give their bowlers something to work with on what appears to be a sluggish surface.
SRH, buoyed by home fans and a disciplined bowling performance, will now chase a target of 134 to register another crucial win in their playoff push.
