On Monday, Pat Cummins led the Sunrisers Hyderabad to a solid victory over the Delhi Capitals in the IPL, limiting them to 133 runs for 7 wickets. With their chances of reaching the playoffs slim, SRH decided to bowl first on a tricky pitch, and the Capitals’ poor shot selection didn’t help their cause. They found themselves in deep trouble at 29 for 5 after just over 7 overs, with Cummins doing most of the damage.
Cummins wasted no time, catching Karun Nair behind on his very first delivery with a solid length ball. Nair’s shot choice was quite loose right from the start. Faf du Plessis followed soon after, trying to hit Cummins for a boundary but ended up getting caught by the wicket-keeper when he mistimed a pull shot. Cummins struck again, removing Abhishek Porel as well, making him the first captain to take more than two wickets in the Powerplay of an IPL match.
Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat joined in on the action, dismissing Axar Patel and K L Rahul. Rahul was trying to drive but ended up edging it to Ishan Kishan. Things were looking pretty one-sided until Tristian Stubbs (41 not out off 36) and Ashutosh Sharma (41 off 26) teamed up to put together a respectable 66-run partnership off 45 balls. Sharma managed to hit a couple of sixes off leg-spinner Zeeshan Ansari to turn things around a bit. Stubbs didn’t look as comfortable but still provided crucial support, hitting four boundaries, with his last one coming on the final ball of the innings.
Captains with 2-plus wickets in Overs 1-6 of an IPL innings
3/12 – Pat Cummins (SRH) vs DC, Hyderabad, 2025
2/10 – Axar Patel (DC) vs RCB, Delhi, 2025
2/13 – Zaheer Khan (DC) vs KKR, Delhi, 2017
2/13 – Shaun Pollock (MI) vs KKR, Kolkata, 2008
2/14 – Zaheer Khan (DC) vs RPS, Pune, 2017
2/18 – Zaheer Khan (DC) vs KKR, Delhi, 2016
2/19 – Zaheer Khan (DC) vs RPS, Pune, 2017
