SMAT: Suyash Sharma stars with maiden T20 fifer on debut
Young leg-spinner Suyash Sharma starred for Delhi on his Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy debut against Madhya Pradesh. The 20-year-old announced his arrival to the scene with a fantastic fifer. He claimed career-best T20 figures of 5/13 from his four overs. His exceptional bowling helped Delhi restrict Madhya Pradesh to 119/9 and later chased it down in 19.2 overs, registering a seven-wicket win. Here's more.
Suyash announced his arrival with this mature bowling performance
Delhi skipper Yash Dhull unleashed the young leggie in the powerplay overs and while Madhya Pradesh were already two down, Suyash piled up more pressure by removing Shubham Sharma in the fifth over. In the sixth over, he cleaned up Rajat Patidar. Suyash also claimed the wickets of Parth Sahani, Rakesh Thakur and Rahul Batham to completely derail the Madhya Pradesh middle order.
Suyash made his IPL debut this year
Suyash was scouted by the Indian Premier League outfit Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and they gave him the opportunity to play in 11 matches this season. He returned with 10 wickets at 32.10 with a slightly high economy of 8.23. Interestingly, Suyash claimed his best IPL figures of 3/30 against Royal Challengers Bangalore on his IPL debut for KKR.
Second-best bowling figures in IPL by a debutant spinner
Earlier, as per ESPNCricinfo, Suyash's 3/30 was the second-best figures by a spinner on his IPL debut. Only Mayank Markande (3/23) is ahead of him in this regard. Overall, the mystery leggie claimed the sixth-best figures by an Indian on his IPL debut. Besides Markande, Amit Singh (3/9), Sandeep Sharma (3/21), Ajit Agarkar (3/25), and Anand Rajan (3/27) are ahead of him.
Who is Suyash Sharma?
Suyash was born on May 15, 2003. The 20-year-old hails from Delhi and is among the rare players who made their IPL debut before playing any List-A, First-Class, or T20 match. Hence, the RCB game marked his maiden appearance in competitive cricket. He plays for the Under-25 team of Delhi. Notably, KKR bought him for Rs. 20 lakh in the IPL 2023 auction.
A look at his T20 numbers
Suyash has only featured in 12 T20s and has returned with 15 wickets. As mentioned, 5/13 against MP is his career-best T20 figures. While 10 of those wickets came in the 2023 IPL season. He made his debut for Delhi with this game.
Second-best bowling figures on Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy debut
Suyash's bowling figures of 5/13 was the second-best figures for a bowler on their SMAT debut. Services bowler Vikash Yadav's 5/9 versus Uttarakhand in 2019 is still in the top spot. While Shesdeep Patra's 5/18 against Mumbai (2015), Sankalp Vohra's 5/22 versus Saurashtra (2007) and Nischal Gaur's 5/28 against Delhi (2007) are the other instances when a debutant has scalped a fifer in SMAT.
Second Delhi bowler with a fifer in SMAT
Suyash's 5/13 are the best bowling figures representing Delhi in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The only other bowler from Delhi to scalp a SMAT fifer is Shivank Vashisht, who claimed 5/19 against Uttarakhand in 2021. Ishant Sharma, Suboth Bhati and Vashisht jointly hold the third-best bowling figures in SMAT for Delhi (4/9). Notably, this is also this season's first fifer in SMAT.
