Every time Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad meet, SRH fans do the same thing, they check whether Mitchell Starc is playing. It has become a ritual born out of genuine trauma.
The Australian left-armer has made a habit of turning up in this fixture and turning SRH’s batting lineup into a procession, and the numbers he has accumulated against the Orange Army over the last two years are the kind that make opposition supporters genuinely nervous every time they see his name on a team sheet.
Today at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, SRH fans can breathe, Starc is recovering from shoulder and elbow injuries and will not feature for DC in Match 31 of IPL 2026. For Hyderabad, that is not just an absence, it is a tactical relief.
SRH vs DC: The 2025 nightmare that started the obsession
While Starc’s history against SRH stretches back to 2014, it was his performance for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025 that cemented his status as SRH’s most feared opponent in recent memory.
In a devastating spell of 5 for 35 from 3.4 overs he became the first overseas pacer to take a five-wicket haul for Delhi Capitals, and he chose the perfect occasion to do it, tearing through an SRH lineup that included Travis Head and Ishan Kishan at the top. He effectively ended the chase before SRH could even get themselves in.
The powerplay deliveries were swinging, the pace was relentless and the wickets kept coming in clusters. It was the kind of spell that makes batters reassess their game plans for months afterward.
What Mitchell Starc did to them in 2024 was even worse
If the 2025 spell was frightening, what Starc did to SRH in 2024 still haunts the Orange Army in a far deeper way because of what was at stake.
In Qualifier 1 he took 3 for 34 including the wicket of Travis Head for a duck in the very first over, breaking the powerplay before it started. Then in the IPL 2024 Final. the shortest final in the tournament’s history, Starc produced 2 for 14 in three overs that were arguably the most devastating new-ball spell any pacer has bowled in an IPL knockout game.
He dismissed Abhishek Sharma with a delivery that squared him up and clipped the off-stump in the first over, came back to remove Rahul Tripathi, and SRH were reeling at 21 for 3 in the fifth over on their way to 113 all out, their lowest ever score in a final. Starc won Player of the Match. SRH went home with nothing.
Also READ: Will Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins play in SRH vs DC IPL 2026 game? Here’s the big update
The numbers against SRH that explain the fear of Mitchell Starc
Across eight matches and seven innings against Sunrisers spanning 2014 to 2025, Starc has taken 13 wickets at an average of 16.46 and a strike rate of 11.6, meaning he takes a wicket roughly every two overs against this opposition.
His best figures of 5 for 35 came against them last year. In the last three major fixtures against SRH he has taken ten wickets across the two sides and averaged approximately 27 runs per match, numbers that make him statistically their single most dangerous opponent.
He has dismissed Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head in the opening over of an innings four times collectively in that period. For an opening pair whose entire value to Sunrisers is built on powerplay dominance, losing both batters cheaply in the first six overs is existential. Starc has made it happen repeatedly.
Mitchell Starc in Last 3 matches v SRH
2024 – MOM Award (Qualifier 1)
2024 – MOM Award (Final)
2025 – MOM Award (League match)*#DCvSRH pic.twitter.com/GL8NTNuUWc— 𝑺𝒉𝒆𝒃𝒂𝒔 (@Shebas_10dulkar) March 30, 2025
SRH vs DC: Today’s IPL 2026 game context and what it means
With Starc absent and Pat Cummins also unavailable for SRH as he continues his recovery from the lumbar injury, today’s game between two sides level on six points is very much a contest of the stand-in units.
Lungi Ngidi leads DC’s pace attack in Starc’s absence and while he is a quality operator, the particular menace Starc brings to this specific fixture is entirely his own. SRH know they are getting a different challenge today.
That is not nothing, for a batting lineup that has struggled for consistency this season, facing DC without Starc is significantly more comfortable than the alternative. The Orange Army’s fans know it. Their batters know it. And somewhere in Australia, recovering from injury, Mitchell Starc probably knows it too.
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