IPL 2026: Sunrisers set a target of 243 runs for Delhi Capitals, Abhishek scored a stormy century.

Hyderabad. Thanks to the aggressive century innings of opener Abhishek Sharma (135 not out), Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 242 runs for two wickets against Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 match here on Tuesday. Abhishek destroyed Delhi’s bowling attack by hitting 10 sixes and as many fours in his unbeaten innings of 68 balls. He made big partnerships for the first three wickets.

He made a partnership of 97 runs in 53 balls for the first wicket with Travis Head (37 in 26 balls) and 79 runs in 35 balls for the second wicket with captain Ishan Kishan (25 runs in 13 balls). After this, he made an unbroken partnership of 66 runs in 32 balls for the third wicket with Heinrich Klaasen (37 not out in 13 balls) to ensure the team’s big score.

In front of Abhishek’s stormy innings, Nitish Rana’s off-spin and slow balls of Lungi Ngidi (41 runs in four overs) also remained ineffective. The only success for Delhi came to Akshar Patel, who did not allow the century partnership for the first wicket to be completed by dismissing Head. Kishan was unfortunately run out. The shot coming from Abhishek’s bat hit the hands of bowler Nitish Rana and hit the wickets and Kishan was out of the crease.

Delhi Capitals’ strategy was a complete failure. The team started the innings with makeshift spinner Rana, who conceded 55 runs in four overs and hit six sixes against left-handed batsmen. The strategy of the team management led by cricket director Venugopal Rao and head coach Hemang Badani remained under question. Rana was given consecutive overs, while key spinner Akshar Patel (1 for 23 in two overs) bowled just two overs, while Kuldeep Yadav (30 runs in two overs) was given no further chances after one expensive over. Rana bowled the first over economically, but the second over was for 20 runs.

He was then given two overs, one of which yielded 23 runs. Delhi’s spin attack spent a total of 108 runs in eight overs. After giving away 67 runs in the powerplay, the team completely lost control of the match by giving away 116 runs between the seventh and 15th overs. Considering Abhishek’s status, this may seem like a slow century, but the specialty of this innings was his shot selection and timing.

Especially against Ngidi, he played the ball late and hit most of the shots in front of the wicket. He completed his century in 47 balls and maintained an aggressive stance till the end. Klaasen scored runs at a strike rate of more than 280 with the help of three fours and as many sixes in the last overs and took the team beyond 240 runs.