IPL 2026, SRH vs DC 31st Match Report, 21 April 2026

Sunrise Hyderabad 242 for 2 (Abhishek 135*, Klaasen 37*, Kop 37, Axar 1-23) batting Delhi capitals 195 for 9 (Rana 57, Rizvi 41, Malinga 4-32, Dubey 3-12) by 47 runs

Trashgate 2.0?

For the second game in a row, Abhishek and Travis Head got off to a measured start. They followed up their 23 for 0 in three overs against Chennai Super Kings with 26 for 0 in three overs here. There seems to be recognition that their lower middle order is not the best, and that they don’t always need 250 with their bowling team.

Abhishek marches on

On 12 off seven at the start of the fourth over, Abhishek started producing hits, starting with Lungi Ngidi and his slower balls. After sneaking in a quiet Rana with the new ball, DC looked to be content with the small winnings, but then they upped the ante by handing over the fifth to Rana. Abhishek was 21 from 11 at this point, and in a mood to hit the next gear. He hit Rana for two consecutive sixes before Head got one. All of a sudden the powerplay read 67 for 0, still among their slower powerplays, especially when they don’t lose wickets.

The DC captain looked like he wasn’t going to be caught in games arising from the direction of the spin as he bowled the seventh over without a boundary, but Abhishek then took his second over for 16. Although he was happy with Head’s wicket off a short ball, Axar did not bowl again.

Middle-overs blitz

With the wicket just gone, DC snuck in another quiet over from Rana, but Ishan Kishan and Abhishek resumed the carnage against the left wrist of Kuldeep Yadav, taking 22 from the 11th over. T Natarajan and Mukesh Kumar bowled as well as they could for the next three overs but still conceded 34. At this point, Rana was asked to bowl again, and Abhishek took 23 off him, bringing up his century with the second of the sixes in that over. Abhishek’s maiden T20 century took 59 balls; the remaining eight all came in less than 50 balls. This one took 47.

Abhishek runs out of gas, Klaasen compensates

At 115 at the end of the 15th over, Abhishek was a decent shout to challenge Chris Gayle’s 175, but he just couldn’t add power to his shots despite keeping the bowlers going. He only got 20 off the last 17 balls he faced, but the remaining 13 balls were maximized by Klaasen, who scored 37 off 13 to go with Kishan’s 25 off 13.

Madushanka strikes early

Hussain, Malinga providing body blows

Rana and KL Rahul continued to battle but the game always slipped away. The bowling of Madushanka, Hussain and Malinga kept up the pressure, and the floodgates opened around the halfway mark. Rahul was the first one to go, hitting a low full toss from Hussain straight to deep square leg. Four balls later, Malinga was on a hat-trick, having dismissed Rana and David Miller at the start of the 11th over.

Again Malinga found reverse swing but cleverly kept mixing it with slower balls. His four-for took him to 21 wickets after the 10th over in his 14 matches since his IPL debut last year. Among fast bowlers, only Prasidh Krishna took more.

Left-arm spinner Harsh Dubey joined the party with three wickets in the last over, all catches in the deep.