NEW DELHI: Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc continued his impressive form against his national teammate Travis Head in top-level cricket during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The encounter took place in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. Head, opening the batting for Sunrisers Hyderabad, struggled to score runs against Starc.
Despite starting with an exquisite boundary, Head was eventually dismissed by Starc in the penultimate over of the powerplay. Starc bowled a short delivery, forcing Head to attempt a pull shot, which resulted in an edge to the wicket-keeper KL Rahul.
In a mid-game show, Starc subtly acknowledged his dominance over Head, stating, “Probably that’s why he doesn’t take the strike against me on the first ball anymore. I have not played too much T20 cricket across those 15 years.”
In top-level cricket, Starc has now dismissed Head six times in eight innings, with Head managing to score only 18 runs off the 34 deliveries he has faced from Starc.
Starc had an outstanding outing for Delhi Capitals, returning with remarkable figures of 5/35 in his four overs, his first five-wicket haul in T20 cricket. He became the second Delhi Capitals bowler to achieve an IPL five-wicket haul, after Amit Mishra’s 5/17 against Deccan Chargers in 2008.
Starc’s wicket-taking prowess was evident as he dismissed explosive batters like Ishan Kishan, Head, and Nitish Kumar Reddy. He also returned in the death overs to claim the scalps of Wiaan Mulder and Harshal Patel.
Starc’s sizzling spell restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to 163 runs, a total that Delhi Capitals chased down comfortably with a seven-wicket victory, maintaining their unbeaten run in the tournament.
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