Abhishek Sharma dazzled under the lights in Hyderabad with a spectacular 2nd IPL ton against DC in Hyderabad. Abhishek Sharma looked a cut above the rest and scored his second IPL ton, while there was support for him with Klaasen providing the finishing kick. Put into bat first, Abhishek Sharma’s superlative unbeaten ton alongside contributions of others took the score to 242/2 in 20 overs.
In reply, Eshan Malinga picked up 4 wickets while Harsh Dubey finished with 3 wickets as the SRH team restricted DC to 195/9 in 20 overs. The likes of Nitish Rana and Sameer Rizvi tried their best but had a mountain to climb. Despite the half-centuries, DC fell way short of the target.
Abhishek Sharma’s spectacular 2nd IPL ton powers SRH to 242/2 in 20 overs
Put into bat first, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head came out to bat for SRH while Mukesh Kumar had the new ball in hand for DC. SRH got off to a solid start courtesy of their openers. They played themselves for a few balls before going berserk at the end. It was the Abhishek Sharma show while Travis Head played second fiddle to Sharma. The duo scored 67 runs in the first power play of 6 overs.
The duo continued to dominate the hapless DC attack. Abhishek was toying with the bowling, while Head was aggressive in cricket from time to time. The duo put on more than 50 runs and drove home the advantage. They put on 97 for the first wicket inside 9 overs before Travis Head fell for 37 off 26 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name to captain Axar Patel against the run of play. Captain Ishan Kishan came out to bat next.
Ishan also carried the tempo of the innings, but it was all about Abhishek Sharma. He got to his fifty in 25 balls and survived a run-out chance as KL Rahul failed to collect the ball cleanly. Sharma was in the zone and was hitting sixes for fun. Abhishek was dropped on 86 by Nitish Rana in the deep. Abhishek soon made the DC team pay as he hit Rana for two consecutive sixes to get to his ton in 45 balls. He was given a standing ovation by everyone as it was his second hundred in IPL history and the second one in Hyderabad.
The duo put on 79 for the second wicket before Ishan was unfortunately run out doing back-up and paid the price as the ball deflected off his hands and onto the stumps. Heinrich Klaasen came out to bat next. Klaasen was quickly off the blocks as the last 3-4 overs were scored by him. Abhishek slowed down a tad after his century, but Klaasen was up to the challenge. He wanted the strike and finished DC even more. Abhishek’s strike-rate went to run a ball after getting to his ton, and Klaasen made his intentions clear, and he scored at a good rate.
The duo added an unbroken 66-run stand off 32 balls to press home the advantage. Klaasen made 37 off 12 balls in the partnership, while Abhishek made 27 off 19 balls in the partnership. DC had no answers to the SRH batting earlier today. Abhishek and Klaasen finished things off in style as 20 runs came off the last over with DC ending at 242/2 in 20 overs with Abhishek unbeaten on 135 off 68 balls with 10 fours to his name while Klaasen remained unbeaten on 37 off 13 balls. 8 extras given by the fielding side.
Axar Patel was the only DC bowler to take a wicket as the captain finished with 1/23 in 2 overs. Mukesh Kumar finished with 0/53 in 4 overs. Nitish Rana bowled 4 overs for 55 runs. Lungi Ngidi finished with 0/41 in 4 overs. Kuldeep Yadav finished with 0/30 in 2 overs. T Natarajan finished with 0/40 in 4 overs. DC had a mountain to climb as they now needed 243 runs for the win in 20 overs.
Eshan Malinga & Harsh Dubey combined to keep DC down to 195/9 in 20 overs
Chasing 243 for the win, Pathum Nissanka and keeper batter KL Rahul came out to open for DC while impact player Dilshan Madushanka had the ball in hand for SRH. DC got off to a flyer, scoring 21 in the first two overs, before Nissanka fell for 8 off 6 balls, with one six to his name to Dilshan Madushanka. Nitish Rana came out to bat next. Rana came out all guns blazing, while Rahul was aggressive as well. DC were 59/1 in 6 overs.
They carried on batting beyond that as well. While Rahul and Rana were there, DC had a glimmer of hope for taking this game close. Rana did the bulk of the scoring while Rahul was playing second fiddle. Rana continued and scored his half-century. The duo added 86 runs for the second wicket before Rahul fell for 37 off 23 balls with one four and 3 sixes to his name. Sameer Rizvi came out to bat next.
The score remained the same before the set batter Rana fell for 57 off 30 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes to his name to Eshan Malinga. David Miller came out to bat next. He was cleaned up in the first ball by Malinga as he had two wickets in two balls. Tristan Stubbs came out to bat next and survived the hat-trick ball. Rizvi and Stubbs forged a partnership and took the innings forward. Rizvi looked fluent while Stubbs showed his intent and complimented each other really well.
The duo added 59 runs for the 5th wicket before Stubbs fell for 27 off 16 balls with 3 fours and one six to his name to Malinga yet again. Impact Player Ashutosh Sharma came out to bat next. He came out all guns blazing and got off to a start again. The duo added 30 runs for the 6th wicket before Ashutosh fell for 14 off 10 balls with 2 fours to his name to Malinga yet again. Axar Patel, the captain, came out to bat next.
Just 6 runs were added to the score before Axar fell for 2 off 3 balls to Harsh Dubey. Kuldeep Yadav came out to bat next in the final over of the contest. Just 3 runs were added to the tally before Rizvi fell for a well-made 41 off 28 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name to Harsh yet again. Lungi Ngidi came out to bat next and fell first ball for a golden duck to Dubey, who finished with 2 wickets in 2 balls. DC finished with 195/9 in 20 overs with 8 extras given by the fielding team.
Eshan Malinga was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/32 in 4 overs. Harsh Dubey finished with 3/12 in 2 overs. Sakib Hussain finished with 1/29 in 4 overs. Dilshan Madushanka, the impact player, finished with 1/36 in 4 overs. Nitish Kumar Reddy went for 57 in 4 overs. Shivang Kumar finished with 0/28 in 2 overs. So, SRH beat PBKS by 47 runs. Abhishek Sharma was awarded the Player of the Match Award.
What Lies Ahead
SRH are now in 3rd place while DC are in 5th place after today’s game. Both teams have interesting games coming our way in the coming week as teams jostle for positions in IPL 2026. Up next is another interesting game in IPL 2026 as LSG takes on RR in Lucknow in a home game for LSG. Important points for both teams, as they have lost their last games. Let’s see how this game pans out tomorrow night.
Also Read: SRH VS DC: Abhishek Sharma’s 2nd IPL Ton Powers SRH To 242/2.