Welcome to the coverage of the Indian Premier League 2025 match No. 55 between Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday, May 5, 2025.
DC kicked off their IPL 2025 campaign in emphatic fashion, showcasing their batting and bowling firepower to notch up four victories on the trot.
In their fifth match against Mumbai Indians, they suffered a dramatic collapse, losing their last three wickets to runouts to lose by 12 runs.
That heartbreaking loss severely derailed their momentum as they managed to win just two of their next six outings.
Currently placed fifth on the points table with 12 points from 10 games, Axar Patel and Co. will be eager to revive their playoff chances when they take on a struggling SRH in an away fixture.
DC have a strong batting line-up, headlined by Team India 'keeper-batter K L Rahul, who has aggregated 371 runs in 9 innings to be their leading run-getter.
Opener Abhishek Porel too has been among runs, scoring over 250 runs, including a half century, but was not able to convert starts into substantial scores.
The return of form of South African stalwart Faf du Plessis, who scored a classy half-century against Kolkata Knight Riders, though it came in a losing cause, also augurs well for the Capitals.
Karun Nair, who returned to the elite league with a swashbuckling 40-ball 89 against Mumbai Indians, endured a drastic dip in form thereafter, with scores of 15, 4, 15, 31, and 0 in the next five games.
DC need him to get back to his prime form to stay in the top-four race.
Their pace bowling unit, led by the experienced Mitchell Starc, has the likes of Dushmantha Chameer and Mukesh Kumar, and is one of the most potent attacks in IPL 2025.
Their spinners too are no pushovers. Kuldeep Yadav has taken 12 wickets in 10 games at an average of 21.91 and an economy of 6.74. Vipraj Nigam has picked 9 wickets with best figures of 2-18 and has been able to provide vital breakthroughs in middle overs.
It is to be seen whether skipper Axar Patel, who suffered a bruise while fielding against KKR, will bowl his full quota against SRH. If he is not fully fit, it will be a heavy blow for DC.
SRH, on the other hand, have nothing to lose, as they stare at an imminent exit with only three wins from 10 games.
The 2024 finalists need to win their remaining four matches to finish with 14 points and hope for favorable results from other teams to sneak into the playoffs.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (16 points) and Punjab Kings (15 points) have already breached that mark while two others, Mumbai Indians and Gujarat Titans, have secured 14 points each.
Although SRH have a power-packed batting line-up, absence of a quality spinner and a middle-order batter with the ability to anchor the innings has hurt them badly in previous matches.
None of their pace bowlers have performed to their potential, and Team India pacer Mohammed Shami's lack of impact with the ball was glaring.
The purple cap winner of the 2023 season for Gujarat Titans with 28 wickets in 17 outings, he has so far managed to pick only 6 wickets in nine innings at a strike-rate of 30.
That said, if Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head set the tone at the top on the batting friendly Hyderabad surface, they will be difficult to stop.
DC and SRH's rivalry in IPL has been anything but one-sided with SRH winning 13 of the 25 encounters between them.
When they met last, in match No. 10 this season, DC emerged victorious by 7 wickets, overhauling SRH's modest total of 163 with 24 balls to spare.
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