Not many teams can reach 100 in the 10th over, after losing four wickets for just 37 runs in the first 25 balls of the innings. Sunrisers Hyderabad did just that, after losing Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Travis Head against Delhi Capitals during their IPL 2025 game on Sunday in Visakhapatnam.

One would assume that it was hard-hitting Heinrich Klaasen, who did the bulk of the damage. Instead it was Aniket Verma, the 23-year-old from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, playing just his third IPL game, relegated the dashing South African to the sidelines.

Who’s Aniket Verma?

Aniket Verma made his professional T20 debut for Madhya Pradesh against Hyderabad in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy after last year’s IPL 2025 mega auction. He made a golden duck. So, why did the SRH management prefer him ahead of the proven customers like Abhinav Manohar and others?

Aniket Verma grabbed the limelight when he proved his six-hitting credentials in the Madhya Pradesh T20 league. The middle-order batter smashed 273 runs in just six innings, smashing 12 fours and 25 sixes. In fact, out of his 273 runs, 150 came through sixes – that’s 55 per cent of his total runs.

Aniket continued that six hitting form by smashing the second ball he faced for a six on his IPL debut against Rajasthan Royals. The next game against Lucknow Super Giants got better. The right-hander faced just 13 balls and smoked five huge sixes – two off Digvesh Rathi and three off Ravi Bishnoi, for his 36 runs.

Aniket Verma top scores for SRH against DC

Against Delhi Capitals, Aniket Verma made most use of the reprieve after Abhishek Porel dropped him when on seven off Axar Patel. In the next 33 balls Aniket Verma scored 67 runs with the help of four fours and six sixes.

He was extremely severe against the Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel, smashing the India spinner for 34 runs off just 15 balls, including four sixes. Aniket got out for a 41-ball 74, and scored exactly half the team runs (148) at the time of his dismissal.

With 12 sixes (1 vs RR, 5 vs LSG, 6 vs DC) so far in IPL 2025, Aniket Verma now stands just behind leader LSG’s Nicholas Pooran in the list for most sixes.

Meanwhile, Aniket’s 74 off 41 balls is the second highest score by a SRH batter batting at No.5 or below after 80 not out (34b) by Heinrich Klaasen against Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad last year.

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