Mitchell Starc and Travis Head. | (Credits: IPL X)
Delhi Capitals’ speedster Mitchell Starc took a subtle dig at his fellow Australian teammate Travis Head after dismissing him for the eighth time across formats in the IPL 2025 game against the SunRisers Hyderabad on Sunday. The left-arm speedster hilariously said his imposing record against Head is the reason why the South Australian doesn’t prefer facing him first up.
Starc, who took three wickets against the Lucknow Super Giants, took his maiden fifer in IPL against the SunRisers on Sunday. The New South Welshman had dismissed Head last year during the Qualifier 1 when he was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders and did so again on Sunday for 22. Starc broke the back of the SunRisers batting by dismissing Head, Ishan Kishan and Nitish Kumar Reddy and returned to dismiss Harshal Patel and Mohammed Shami.
Speaking to the host broadcaster during the mid-innings break, Starc wore the purple cap and stated:
“Was pretty hot. Know how powerful SRH are, but we put in a fantastic performance. New franchise, nice to settle in. (On dismissing Head six times in T20s) I think that’s why he doesn’t face the first ball anymore. I haven’t put a time on when I’ll leave T20s, haven’t played too much of it, first year back in the IPL last year. I’m an older one but it’s nice to talk to the younger guys. Still enjoying being competitive, that’s why I’m still playing.”
Pat Cummins had won the toss and opted to bat first
Earlier, SunRisers skipper Pat Cummins had won the toss and opted to bat first, citing the warm temperature and expecting the pitch to assist spinners later.
DC playing XI: Jake Fraser-McGurk, Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, KL Rahul(w), Axar Patel(c), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Mukesh Kumar.
SRH playing XI: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Pat Cummins(c), Zeeshan Ansari, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami.
