Anshuman Hooda upstages Mayank Yadav as South Delhi Superstarz beat East Delhi Riders

New Delhi: Mayank Yadav was supposed to be the big ticket presence at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in the Delhi Premier League (DPL) match between East Delhi Riders and South Delhi Superstarz on Saturday afternoon. However, the India pacer who has made a successful comeback to the Indian cricket team and picked five wickets on the tour of Zimbabwe was overshadowed by Anshuman Hooda, who returned with the first-ever five-wicket haul of this DPL season.

Hooda, a protege of coach Harish Dagar of Delhi Cricket Hub, picked 5/24 as his spell helped his team restrict East Delhi to 165 all out in 18.1 overs. The South Delhi Superstarz then chase down the target with ease, reaching 169/6 in 18.1 overs and sealing the victory with 11 balls to spare.

Anmol Sharma, who hit 64 off just 36 balls, striking eight boundaries and two sixes, anchored the successful chase. But before he could get going, South Delhi survived early jitters as Mayank Yadav threatened to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Mayank Yadav removed Sanat Sangwan off his first ball, bowled off a yorker, before he removed Pranav Pant, bowling him with another yorker. But as luck would have it, it turned out to be a no-ball and Pant survived.

That was a lucky break as Pant smashed 24 off 14 balls and while Ayush Badoni, skipper of South Delhi Superstarz, hit 23 off 11 balls.

Mayank was disappointed after the end of the game and regretted that no-ball.

"Definitely, when you get wickets off the first two balls, you definitely create a lot of pressure on the other team. The way the pitch played we were 10-20 runs short, so if we had got that wicket, we would have been in a great position," said Yadav.

Anshuman Hooda gets Player of the Match Award

The day, however, belonged to Hooda. This was his second five-wicket in DPL. Last year too, he picked a five-wicket haul on his DPL debut.

The young pacer, who was a net bowler with Gujarat Titans ahead of this IPL, is an engineer by profession with a degree from Delhi Technological University (DTU), formerly Delhi College of Engineering.

"I was an engineer and used to play tennis ball cricket around my home. I began playing serious cricket only in college, four-five years ago, in 2021. I joined Harish Dagar's Delhi Cricket Hub," said Hooda, who stuck to basics.

"Strategy was simple. I knew the length ball was the best ball. We knew that if we had to do something extra, we would go for runs. That was our plan and we stuck to that," added Hooda.

In the second match of the day, West Delhi Lions' skipper Ayush Doseja held his team together despite early loss of wickets to take his team to a 19-run win over New Delhi Tigers. Doseja hit 84 off 52 balls (10x4s, 2x6s) as West Delhi reached 170/5 in 20 overs. Mayank Gusain provided the finishing touch to the innings, smashing an unbeaten 46 off 35 deliveries, including four sixes. In response, New Delhi Tigers were dismissed for 151 in 20 overs.

Chasing 171, New Delhi Tigers suffered a collapse at the top and were restricted to 28/4 by the end of the powerplay. Manish Sehrawat hit a quickfire 51 off just 26 balls towards the end but the early loss of wickets hurt the Tigers' cause.

Tags : Anshuman Hooda, Ayush Doseja, Ayush Badoni, Delhi Premier League, Indian cricket team