Abhishek Sharma's 135 not out powers SRH to a 47-run win over Delhi Capitals in Hyderabad
Abhishek Sharma made 135 not out off 68 balls at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Tuesday night, and Sunrisers Hyderabad walked off with a 47-run win over Delhi Capitals that felt decided by about the ninth over. SRH finished on 242 for 2. Delhi were never really in the chase, ending 195 for 9, and SRH have now won three in a row after the shaky start to their IPL 2026 campaign.
Axar Patel called correctly at the toss and chose to bowl, which looked a reasonable call on a wicket that has held up as one of the flatter Hyderabad surfaces this season. SRH had other ideas. Abhishek cut, pulled, drove on the up, and inside the powerplay the opening stand was already past 60. Travis Head went for 37, the powerplay closed at 67 without loss, Ishan Kishan came in and clipped a quick 25 before a run-out, and Heinrich Klaasen closed the innings with an unbeaten 37 from 13 balls.
Abhishek makes it look easy
Abhishek reached his fifty in 25 balls, the slowest of his T20 fifties at Uppal, and then accelerated. His hundred came up in 47 deliveries, his first of the season, and he carried on through the death overs rather than slogging out. The final tally was 10 fours and 10 sixes from 68 balls. When Klaasen arrived in the last three overs the two of them put on 66 together, with Klaasen happy to let Abhishek keep the strike and thump the tired bowling.
It is also his ninth hundred in T20 cricket across IPL and international formats, which draws him level with Virat Kohli as the Indian batter with the most T20 centuries. Eight of those nine have come inside 50 balls. You can argue about whether the list is a meaningful one this early in his career, but the idea that a batter still four months short of twenty-six is already at Kohli's mark is the kind of sentence that makes you stop for a second.
Where the chase went
Delhi needed a big opening stand and did not get one. KL Rahul went early to a wide ball he did not need to chase, and although Axar Patel and Sameer Rizvi both made thirties, the ask kept rising and the pressure never came off. Eshan Malinga picked up four wickets including two in an over during the back-half squeeze, and by the time Ashutosh Sharma and Rizvi put together a consolation stand the equation was already out of reach. Delhi finished on 195 for 9, a scoreline that looks tidier on the card than it felt at any point during the innings.
Delhi have now dropped points in three of their last four games and slide down the standings, with the bowling the issue in the last two of them. A 242 chase is one thing. The nature of the surrender, with very little resistance through the middle overs, will be the bigger concern for head coach Hemang Badani and the rest of the staff.
SRH back to where they thought they would be
Three wins in a row, the Orange Cap back at Hyderabad through Abhishek, and a batting order that has now produced totals of 216, 194 and 242 in consecutive games. The early-season stutter had pushed SRH into the pack but the batting has clicked again, and with two home fixtures still to come the run to the playoffs is very much back on. The bowling looks thinner without Pat Cummins, who is still working his way back, but Malinga is keeping them in the death overs for now.
SRH travel to Jaipur on Saturday to face Rajasthan Royals. Delhi are back at Kotla the same night against Punjab Kings, and the mood around the squad will need a lift before then. Nights like this one do not leave many answers for a bowling attack. Abhishek is past 300 runs for the season, past 2000 in SRH colours, and in the form of an opener no one wants to see walk out in May.
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