SRH vs DC, IPL 2026: Abhishek Sharma, bowlers take SRH to 47-run win

Harsh Dubey with the last over, and he has a wicket. Axar Patel goes for the slog sweep, and is caught at the midwicket boundary. Make it two in the over, and Sameer Rizvi perishes for 41. And now a third. Ngidi is a goner. Match done, DC end with 195 and SRH win by 47 runs.

Eshan Malinga gets his fourth of the day. He bowls a slower one and Ashutosh gives a simple catch to Aniket Verma. Just formalities left to be completed.

Harsh Dubey comes into the attack finally, and one must admit, it is because of Abhishek Sharma, that SRH are placed so comfortably. 66 needed from last 3.

Stubbs and Rizvi are trying their best as the partnership has moved to 59 in 32 deliveries. But still they are in danger. Malinga has his third wicket as Stubbs tries to reverse scoop. Caught out at third man.

Just one or two sixes in an over won't make much of a difference to Delhi. They need a couple of 20 plus overs, and without that, this chase is out of their reach. NKR finishes his spell and concedes 57.

Stubbs has joined Rizvi, and it is clear, that the latter has to up the ante. Stubbs, it would be better, takes the game deep. There is Ashutosh Sharma still to come, and then Axar Patel as well.

After KL Rahul, Nitish Rana throws his wicket away. He mistimes one from Eshan Malinga, Rana can't believe what he has done. Abhishek Sharma covers good ground to complete the catch. The very next ball is a gem to David Miller. Comes back in sharply, and chops on to the stumps. Misses his hat-trick though.

Sakib Hussain comes back, and this bowling is suffering under pressure due to inexperience. Nitish Rana gets to his 21st fifty in the IPL. Oh god, KL Rahul hits one straight into the hands of Abhishek Sharma and midwicket.

43rd fifty for KL Rahul in IPL. Just 26 is what he takes for his milestone. And he would know that the job is not even half done; He needs to stay there till the very end.

After lull of a couple of overs, Nitish Rana is back to striking it big. He slams Shivang Kumar for a couple of sixes. Meanwhile, Rahul doing the right thing by farming strike.

We have another change in the bowling as Sakib Hussain comes on next. He bowls an excellent one to Nitish Rana, who had been punishing all the others until now. Just 5 runs scored here and powerplay comes to an end.

And when a wicket is so necessary, and chance has gone down spilling. Eshan Malinga creates an opportunity as Rahul plays it back to him, but the bowler makes a mess of the catch.

Nitish looks like an improved bowler but he needs to come up with a special show for SRH. He has been leaking a few runs in the last few matches. Where is the next wicket coming from? His slower ones are getting picked up easily by Nitish Rana. He has raced to 22.

Maiden IPL wicket for Dilshan Madushanka as he dismisses his Sri Lankan teammate Pathum Nissanka. Madushanka bowled a length delivery and as Nissanka tried to take him on, he moved to leg side to create room but did not get any timing and gave away a catch to Liam Livingstone at the mid-off.

KL Rahul has had a tennis elbow problem, and today, it seems that same elbow is troubling him. But even then, he takes on Nitish Reddy for two consecutive sixes, while wincing in pain.

KL Rahul and Pathum Nissanka begin 243-run chase for Delhi Capitals. They need a flying start and then some to come close to that mammoth target. DC's highest chase is just 214 and they need to break that record and some.

Mukesh Sharma ends up conceding 20 runs in the last over. Abhishek Sharam remains unbeaten on 135 off 68 balls, while Heinrich Klaasen scores 13-ball 37 not out as Sunrisers Hyderabad end their 20 overs with 242/2.

• Powerplay: 67/0
• Middle overs: 122/2
• Final overs: 53/0

Even as Abhishek Sharma slows down, Heinrich Klaasen has taken the charge with a strike rate of 260. The two bring up their 50-run stand.

An excellent over from T Natarajan under pressure. Even as Heinrich Klaasen and Abhishek Sharma are going after the bowlers, Natarajan concedes just six with some excellent yorkers. SRH 222/2 after 19.

Heinrich Klaasen goes after his former South Africa teammate Lungi Ngidi in the 18th over with two sixes in a row. SRH 216/2 after 18.

Sunrisers Hyderabad cross 200-run mark, all thanks to Abhishek Sharma. With Heinrich Klaasen also joining the party, runs keep flowing. SRH are 202/2 after 17.

Despite the lucky run-out, Nitish Rana ends up conceding 23 runs, with Abhishek Sharma hitting him for three sixes and a four.

Ishan Kisan has to depart and he was unlucky. Abhishek Sharma hit it straight and the ball rechotted off Nitish Rana's hands to hit the stumps at the non-striker's end. Ishan Kishan was already a yard away and had no chance of getting back in time. Ishan is run out for 25 off 13. SRH 176/2 after 14.4.

Axar Patel gifted him Nitish Rana and Abhishek Sharma welcomed the move with two sixes in a row to bring up his first century of 2026 and 2nd of IPL. He gets to the milestone in 47 balls. With the century, Abhishek has equalled Virat Kohli for most centuries in T20 cricket by an Indian. 

Most 100s in T20 cricket

• 22 Chris Gayle
• 12 Babar Azam
• 10 David Warner
• 9 Virat Kohli/ Abhishek Sharma 

Dropping a catch was the last thing Sunrisers Hyderabad wanted. But Nitish Rana did exactly that. Abhishek Sharma miscued a shot, trying to hit Natarajan on a delivery outside off stump. Nitish Rana covered the ground and got under the ball only to drop it. Abhishek hit the next delivery for a four to move to 90s.

Abhishek Sharma is marching towards his 2nd IPL century as he moves to 86 of 41. He has been flawless so far with no mistakes and Delhi Capitals have been clueless about how to get him out.

Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan go after Kuldeep Yadav in the 11th over to score 22 runs off the over with two sixes and as many forus.

Halfway through the first innings and Sunrisers Hyderabad have managed to score 104/1. Ishan Kishan has come to the middle after Travis Head was dismissed. Abhishek Sharma is going well with 60 off 30.

Axar Patel has the breakthrough as he breaks the 97-run stand, removing Travis Head. The Australian tried to pull Axar on a widish delivery but had no power behind it. Sameer Rizvi made no mistake with the catch at the deep mid-wicket. Head departs for 37 off 26 balls.

He hit a 15-ball 50 in the last game. And today, he has smashed a 25-ball half-century. With consecutive half-centuries in the IPL, third this season in 7 innings, he is back in form and has also answered the consistency question.

Sunrisers Hyderabad have won 72% of their matches when Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head have survived the powerplay. And both of them do. They have been cautious in their approach. Hyderabad end the powerplay with 67/0.

Abhishek Sharma has hit the first six of the SRH innings after 4 overs. He takes on Nitish Rana on full delivery to get the first six over the cover. He then followed that up with a pull over the long-on. He tried that against Lungi Ngidi in the 4th over but it was a once-bounce four. With that, they also bring up their 50-run stand. Rana ends up conceding 20 runs in the 5th over.

Runs have started to flow but not through sixes. It has been four overs with both relying on ground shots instead of going the aerial route with low bounce on offer. At the end of four overs, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head score 36.

The pitch is not the one used for the last game. It is on the slower side and both Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head have struggled to hit.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma begin for Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the last game, Abhishek smashed a 15-ball half-century. Can he do it again today?

Delhi Capitals have made one change, dropping Auqib Nabi for Nitish Rana. 

Pathum Nissanka, KL Rahul(w), Sameer Rizvi, Nitish Rana, Tristan Stubbs, Axar Patel(c), David Miller, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, T Natarajan, Lungi Ngidi

Sunrisers Hyderabad have made a few changes, considering the pitch is likely to be on the slower side. Praful Hinge has been dropped for Harsh Dueby. Dilshan Madushanka will make his debut today after missing out on the last game. 

Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan(c), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora(w), Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivang Kumar, Harsh Dubey, Sakib Hussain, Eshan Malinga

Impact sub options: R Smaran, Praful Hinge, Liam Livingstone, Dilshan Madushanka, Harshal Patel

Axar Patel wins the toss again, six matches in a row, and he opts to bowl first against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Even though Pat Cummins joined the Sunrisers Hyderabad squad ahead of the CSK match on April 18, the Australia Test & ODI captain is still not available to play. SRH coach Daniel Vettori confirmed that Cummins would only play on April 25, against Rajasthan Royals. Ishan Kishan will lead the side in one more game before handing back the charge to Cummins.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, with two wins in a row, are 4th on the IPL 2026 Points Table with 6 points and an NRR of 0.566. Delhi Capitals also have 6 points but they are behind SRH on NRR (0.310).

Delhi Capitals also had a good start to IPL 2026, beating Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians. But then, DC suffered two consecutive defeats, including a heartbreaking one-run loss to Gujarat Titans. But since then, Axar Patel & Co have bounced back. 

KL Rahul’s fine knock and David Miller's last-over heroics against RCB have given them renewed confidence. Axar Patel's side now has a settled top-order with KL Rahul behind the stumps. 

There's a neat symmetry to this SRH vs DC clash. Both teams are on six points. Both have just turned their campaigns around. And both walk in playing the kind of cricket that had looked beyond them a fortnight ago.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, without Pat Cummins, started shaky and have slowly pieced things together. The batting was never the worry. Abhishek Sharma is striking at over 229, and Heinrich Klaasen is leading the tournament run charts with 283 runs. While his strike rate has come under the scanner, he has managed to alleviate those fears with consistency.

The bowling, though, is where the real shift has come. Two uncapped Indians. Praful Hinge and Sakib Hussain have stepped up over the last two games. They helped SRH successfully defend totals against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. With Pat Cummins still not fully fit to make a comeback against Delhi Capitals, SRH will have to depend on their domestic bowlers. 

Uppal has been back to its run-soaked self this season after a slightly two-paced showing in IPL 2025. In the first match, the venue offered such a surface that SRH could only manage 156/9. But since then, the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium Pitch has tilted towards batters again. 

The average first-innings score in the last two games has been 205, with the pitch playing hard, flat and true. The lightning-fast outfield is punishing even mistimed shots. Dew, as always in Hyderabad, is the tactical swing factor. It typically sets in during the second innings, which is why captains winning the toss have largely opted to bowl first at this venue. That said, SRH defending 195 against CSK last week showed that a big first-innings score can still get the job done.

Few IPL rivalries are this finely balanced. Across 26 matches between the two teams, SRH lead 13-12. It includes a Super Over win for DC in 2021. However, the rivalry has been firmly tilting Delhi's way for a while now. Delhi have won two of the last three encounters. Even at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, the result is tied 3-3.

• Matches Played: 26
• Sunrisers Hyderabad won: 13
• Delhi Capitals won: 12
• No Result: 1