Mitchell Starc ends DC’s 17-year wait for iconic IPL milestone in just his second appearance, claims Purple Cap

Mitchell Starc made history with his first IPL five-fer, becoming only the second Delhi IPL bowler to do so. He also reached the top of the Purple Cap list.

Delhi Capitals pulled off a phenomenal bowling performance in Vizag to bowl out Sunrisers Hyderabad for 163 on a typically high-scoring pitch. The star for DC was Australian pace bowler Mitchell Starc, who returned career-best IPL figures to take 5-35 in his spell, including three crucial wickets in the powerplay.

Mitchell Starc celebrates a wicket with his Delhi Capitals teammates enroute to figures of 5-35. (PTI)

Starc became only the second bowler in the history of DC to take a five-fer, following in the footsteps of Amit Mishra. Mishra’s figures of 5-17 came all the way back in the inaugural season in 2008. Funnily enough, it came against a different Hyderabad-based team, the Deccan Chargers.

Starc started off with a wicketless over, although it did see the run-out of Abhishek Sharma thanks to Vipraj Nigam. In his second over of the spell, Starc struck with the very first delivery, as Ishan Kishan played an uppish cut straight to deep third man. Later in the same over, Starc outfoxed Nitish Kumar Reddy with a slower ball, caught comfortably by captain Axar Patel.

Starc climbs to top of Purple Cap ladder

Starc was brought back for a third over within the powerplay and immediately made it count, as he took the absolutely crucial wicket of Travis Head. A sharp short ball had him caught behind by KL Rahul. By dismissing his in-form countryman, Starc swung the match in DC’s favour early.

Later in the innings, Starc returned for his final over, and cleaned up the tail with a couple of wickets to bowl out SRH. His fourth wicket saw Harshal Patel caught out by a wonderful diving catch by Axar at mid-off, before he completed his five-fer with the wicket of Wiaan Mulder.

Starc’s five-fer also vaults him to the top of the Purple Cap standings. The Aussie now has 8 wickets in just two matches, adding to his three-wicket haul against LSG in DC’s opener. Starc is being used as a powerplay bowler by a DC team that has plenty of options through the middle overs and at the death.

DC, who last year conceded 266 to SRH, managed to restrict the powerful Hyderabad team to 163 on a surface which still looks batting-friendly. Starc was supported by Kuldeep Yadav, who took excellent figures of 3-22 in his four overs, despite facing the spin-hitting threat of Heinrich Klaasen and Aniket Verma.