Twitter Reactions: Mitchell Starc’s stunning five-fer help DC bundle out SRH for 163

During their IPL 2025 match at Visakhapatnam on Sunday afternoon, Sunrisers Hyderabad was completely destroyed by DC’ star speedster Mitchell Starc, who put them down to a meagre 163. The left-arm pacer finished with figures of 5/35 in 3.4 overs, his first five-wicket haul in T20 cricket. Starc now has the Purple Cap after this effort, taking eight wickets in just two games to top the wicket-taking standings.

Despite boasting one of the tournament’s best batting lineups, SRH’s decision to bat first led to a lacklustre start. Their aggressive strategy appeared promising at first, but Starc quickly caused chaos with his opening spell. Ishan Kishan (2) was first dismissed by the Australian with a short ball, which forced the left-hander to hit straight to deep backward point. Nitish Kumar Reddy (0) was hit by an off-cutter two balls later, mistiming a shot that landed safely in Axar Patel’s hands at mid-on.

After his Australian teammate Travis Head (22), who had started with four boundaries, was removed, the 35-year-old struck the heaviest blow. Behind the stumps, the batter was compelled to glove the ball to KL Rahul by the pacer. This was Starc’s sixth dismissal of Head in all formats.

As SRH was struggling at 58/4 after six overs, Heinrich Klaasen and young Aniket Verma began to steady the innings. Particularly impressive was Verma, who hit 74 off 41 balls with five fours and six sixes. With Klaasen’s 19-ball 32, they pieced together an important 77-run partnership in 40 deliveries. But just as SRH was starting to get things right,

the DC scored once more. Kuldeep Yadav (3/22) was instrumental in taking out captain Pat Cummins and Verma in short succession, shattering SRH’s backbone.

In order to prevent any last-minute comebacks, Starc returned for his final over in the 19th over. Two more wickets were taken by him, first by Axar, who made a wonderful low catch at mid-off to remove Harshal Patel (5), and then by Faf du Plessis, who beautifully caught Wiaan Mulder (9) to end the innings. SRH was dismissed after 18.4 overs at 163.

“We are aware of the strength of Sunrisers. Powerplay wickets were crucial, as we knew. Overall, the opening innings of this game was an outstanding showing. Being in a new franchise is nice. We’ve settled in with the lads and met a few folks during our second game, which has been fantastic. Starc told the commentators in the middle of the inning, “I hope there’s still little life left, even though I’m 35 and not young.”

“I believe that’s the reason Head doesn’t face the first ball anymore after being dismissed six times in Twenty20 cricket. I haven’t played a lot of Twenty20 cricket in those fifteen years. I have the opportunity to speak with the younger guys and attempt to be of assistance where I can because I am older. He continued, “I still like playing cricket.

Here’s how the fans reacted to Mitchell Starc’s brilliant five-wicket haul against SRH: