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Mitchell Starc took his first five-wicket haul in T20 cricket as Delhi Capitals cruised to a seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.<\/b><\/p>\n
The 35-year-old Australia left-arm quick claimed 5-35 as Sunrisers were bowled out for 163 after their skipper Pat Cummins had won the toss and batted first.<\/p>\n
Aniket Verma hit 74 off 41 balls and was one of only three Sunrisers batters to make it into three figures as Starc and Kuldeep Yadav, who finished with 3-22, did the damage.<\/p>\n
Faf du Plessis hammered 50 off 27 balls as he and Jake Fraser-McGurk put on 81 for the first wicket to give the Capitals a solid foundation in the chase.<\/p>\n
Sunrisers spinner Zeeshan Ansari dismissed both players on his IPL debut to put the brakes on with 3-42.<\/p>\n
However, Abishek Porel and Tristan Stubbs finished unbeaten on 34 and 21 respectively as they got Delhi over the line with 30 balls to spare.<\/p>\n
The Capitals have started this year’s IPL with victories in both of their opening two matches.<\/p>\n
Starc’s figures eclipsed his previous best in the format nearly a decade ago – 4-15 for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Kings XI Punjab in the IPL in May 2015.<\/p>\n
He bagged the wickets of Abhishek Sharma and Ishan Kishan early in the SRH innings after both picked out fielders attempting big shots.<\/p>\n
However, it was the dismissal of Australia team-mate Travis Head for 22 which gave him the greatest satisfaction and brought a wry smile.<\/p>\n
Sunrisers opener Head gloved a delivery from Starc to Delhi wicketkeeper KL Rahul, which ensured Starc has got the wicket of the left-hander six times in all formats.<\/p>\n
Head has faced Starc eight times since 2015, and managed just 18 runs off 34 balls.<\/p>\n
Starc then returned in the penultimate over of the Sunrisers innings for his final over as he eyed the chance of a maiden T20 five-for in his 209th match in the format.<\/p>\n
He was indebted to two superb diving catches from Capitals skipper Axar Patel and Du Plessis – to dismiss Harshal Patel and Wiaan Mulder – to complete the feat.<\/p>\n
“There’s not many egos in bowlers in T20 cricket – you’re hanging on for dear life sometimes – so it was nice to contribute today,” Starc said after he was given the player of the match award.<\/p>\n
“As a bowler you have to think outside the box a lot more now with how the scores are trending. You have to do things you normally wouldn’t and try to find a little bit of leeway against the batters.”<\/p>\n
In Sunday’s other match, England fast bowler Jofra Archer was back to something like his best after a poor start to this year’s IPL as he helped Rajasthan Royals beat Chennai Super Kings by six runs<\/a>.<\/p>\n After a wicketless, and expensive, start to the tournament Archer conceded just one run in his first two overs against CSK and became the first player to bowl a maiden in this year’s IPL as he took 1-13.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n