Delhi Capitals (DC) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will lock horns for the first time in IPL 2024 tonight. It is also the first game of the season at Delhi's Arun Jaitley Stadium, and a batting-friendly surface is expected to be on offer for this game.
All eyes will be on the bowling lineup of the two teams. The side that bowls better should take two points home tonight. Delhi Capitals' bowling lineup has been in tremendous touch. They broke the back of Lucknow Super Giants' batting lineup a few days back in Lucknow and followed it up with another brilliant performance by bowling out Gujarat Titans for 89 runs in Ahmedabad.
Interestingly, the top three best bowling performances in Delhi Capitals vs Sunrisers Hyderabad IPL matches also belong to DC bowlers only. The best spell by a SRH bowler against DC came from Rashid Khan in 2020, when he returned with figures of 3/7 in four overs.
Before the DC vs SRH game in IPL 2024, here's a look at the top three best bowling performances in this rivalry's history.
#3 Kagiso Rabada - 4/22 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2019
Delhi Capitals visited Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium for a match against the Sunrisers on April 14, 2019. Batting first, DC managed 155/7 in their 20 overs.
In reply, Sunrisers Hyderabad got off to an excellent start, with David Warner and Jonny Bairstow adding 72 runs for the first wicket. Warner even completed his half-ton. However, DC's bowlers turned the game upside down with a flurry of wickets in the next few wickets.
SRH collapsed from 72/0 to 116 all out as DC won by 39 runs. Kagiso Rabada was the wrecker-in-chief. The right-arm pacer dismissed Warner, Vijay Shankar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed to seal the deal for DC. In 3.5 overs, Rabada conceded just 22 runs and took four wickets.
#2 Chris Morris - 4/26 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2017
Another South African fast bowler who took a four-wicket haul for Delhi against Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium is Chris Morris. The right-arm pacer bagged all four wickets that fell in SRH's innings against Delhi on April 19, 2017.
All other Delhi bowlers returned wicketless as SRH finished with 191/4 in 20 overs. Morris' four victims were David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh. Despite Morris' spell of 4/26, SRH won by 15 runs eventually.
#1 JP Duminy - 4/17 vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, 2015
It might raise a few eyebrows but the best bowling figures in IPL matches between Delhi and Hyderabad belong to JP Duminy. The former South African all-rounder captained Delhi in 2015.
Duminy first scored a half-century in the innings against SRH in Vizag on April 18, 2015. His 54-run knock guided the visitors to 167/4. In the second innings, Duminy opened the bowling with Nathan Coulter-Nile.
The off-spinner bowled just three overs but managed to dismiss David Warner, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan to restrict SRH to 163/8 in 20 overs. Delhi escaped with a four-run win in that IPL game, thanks to Duminy's extraordinary all-round brilliance.
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