NEW DELHI, APRIL 21
Another explosive start by Travis Head set up Sunrisers Hyderabad to crush Delhi Capitals by 67 runs in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
Head and Abhishek Sharma combined for 125 without loss in the first six overs - the highest score in an IPL power play - and Sharma was out two balls later for 46 off 12 balls. The openers made 131 in a mere 38 balls.
Head continued his onslaught to 89 off 32 until he was caught at long on in the ninth over at 154-3.
The visitors finished at 266-7, their third 250-plus total this season, and bowled out Delhi for 199 in 19.1 overs at Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Hyderabad moved to second on the table while Delhi's fifth loss in eight games gave it the worst run rate in the league at minus-1.303.
The Sunrisers openers roused the Delhi crowd into a frenzy as they rained sixes into the stands and fours into the boundaries.
Sharma smacked six sixes and two fours in his 12-ball stay, and Head went on a bit further, smashing six sixes and 11 fours.
The Delhi bowlers had no answers. The fifty came up in 16 balls, and Hyderabad crossed 100 in 30 balls.
Head reached fifty off 16 balls, and took another 39 off the next 16. He was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav just short of achieving successive centuries.
Sharma holed out off Yadav in the seventh over to give Delhi a breather.
The middle order couldn't keep up the momentum. Aiden Markram was out for 1, and Heinrich Klaasen was bowled on 15 by Axar Patel.
Yadav put the brakes on the scoring with 4-55 in four overs but Nitish Reddy (37) and Shahbaz Ahmed provided a final flourish for Hyderabad.
They added 67 off 47 balls for the fifth wicket and took the score past 200. Ahmed was 59 not out off 29 balls, hitting five sixes, for his maiden IPL half-century.
The pressure was too much in Delhi's attempted chase.
Opener and impact substitute Prithvi Shaw was out for 16 and David Warner chipped a catch for just 1 at the other end.
Australian youngster Jake Fraser-McGurk provided the lone spark with seven sixes and five fours in 65 off 18 balls.
Fraser-McGurk reached 50 off 15 balls, equalling the record for the third-fastest half-century in IPL history.
Abhishek Porel helped Fraser-McGurk add 84 off 30 balls. Porel scored 42 off 22 balls, with five fours and a six, but Mayank Markande dismissed both batters in the two overs he bowled.
Skipper Rishabh Pant came out at No. 6 and scored a slow 44 off 35 balls.
Left-arm pacer T Natarajan grabbed 4-19 from the Delhi lower order.
