Australian allrounders keep thriving in the Indian Premier League, with Mitch Marsh the latest to follow the heroics of Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis with a thumping player of the match display.
The only problem for Marsh was that his heroics with both bat and ball in their home Arun Jaitley Stadium all came frustratingly to nought as the IPL's basement side, Delhi Capitals, lost once again under David Warner's stewardship on Saturday.
Not that Warner's powerhouse Australian teammate, who had previously not enjoyed the best of tournaments, could be blamed for this one.
Not only did Marsh do more than anyone with his terrific 4-27 to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 6-197 off their 20-over allocation, but he then more than doubled his season's tally of runs, crashing 63 off just 39 balls, a spectacular knock featuring six sixes and a four.
"There's a reason why the IPL is the best tournament in the world. It's bloody hard to win games," sighed Marsh, who ended up watching his side fall nine runs short on 6-188 to fall to their sixth loss in eight matches.
"Close games can define your season. Unfortunately, we've been on the wrong end of a few, but our spirits are high. There's still a long way to go in this tournament. We need to start winning but I hold a lot of belief in this group."
So does Warner. He's had his problems this season with sluggish scoring rates by his standards but he's still been compiling plenty of runs.
Not on Saturday, though, as Buvneshwar Kumar bowled him off a bottom edge with the second ball of the innings.
It took Marsh and England's Phil Salt (59 off 35) to produce the rescue act, putting on 111 for the second wicket in just 11 overs.
But when Marsh was finally caught in the 14th over, miscuing a steepler to captain Aiden Markram while trying to smash Akeal Hosein for a second consecutive six, the game was effectively up for the Capitals.
"Mitch bowled fantastic through the middle overs and was our best bowler, but coming up nine runs short is pretty disappointing," sighed Warner, reflecting on how Marsh had ripped the heart out of Hyderabad's innings, dismissing Rahul Tripathi, Markram and England star Harry Brook.
Brook had been demoted down the order after a sequence of low scores but Marsh got him caught, pulling too early to midwicket off his second ball, after he'd also just got rid of Markram for eight.
