Hyderabad’s big score from Abhishek and Klaasen’s half-century innings
On the basis of opener Abhishek Sharma’s 36-ball 67 and Heinrich Klaasen’s 27-ball unbeaten 53, Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 197 runs for six wickets in the Indian Premier League T20 match, batting first against Delhi Capitals here on Saturday. Make it Abhishek hit 12 fours and a six in his innings while Klaasen hit two fours and four sixes. For the team, Abdul Samad scored 28 runs in 21 balls with the help of one four and two sixes. Mitchell Marsh took four wickets for 27 runs in four overs for Delhi Capitals.
Ishant Sharma (1/31) and Akshar Patel (1/29) got one success each. Abhishek Sharma hit Ishant Sharma for two consecutive fours in the first over but the bowler gave Delhi the first breakthrough by dismissing Mayank Agarwal (five runs in six balls) in the third over. Rahul Tripathi (10 runs in six balls) hit a six over the wicketkeeper in the fourth over against Mukesh Kumar but returned to the pavilion in the next over by giving a catch to Manish Pandey off Mitchell Marsh. Abhishek hit Ishant for four consecutive fours in the sixth over to take the team to 62 for two in the powerplay.
In the next over, Enrich Norkia dropped a simple catch of captain Aiden Markram (8 runs in 13 balls) and on the next ball, Abhishek completed his first half-century of the season in 25 balls and the third half-century of his IPL career with a six. Marsh gave double success to Delhi in the 10th over by dismissing Markram and Harry Brooks (zero) without giving a run. Both the batsmen caught Akshar Patel at deep midwicket in an attempt to hit a six. The 11th over was brilliant for the Sunrisers in which the team scored 24 runs. Abhishek hit fours on the first two balls of Mukesh Kumar’s over, while Heinrich Klaasen hit fours and sixes on the last two balls. However, in the next over, Akshar Patel gave Delhi a big breakthrough by dismissing Abhishek.
Abdul Samad, who came to the crease, Kuldeep and Klaasen kept the run pace by hitting two consecutive sixes in the 16th over against Akshar. Samad became the fourth victim of this bowler after completing the half-century partnership with Klaasen by hitting a six against Marsh. Akil Hussain (16 not out in 10 balls), making his debut for the team, hit a six against Marsh in the 19th over. Klaasen reached his half-century in 25 balls by taking two runs after hitting a four against Norkia in the last over.
