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Have we witnessed it all in this edition of the IPL? Might be yes, might be not but hardly any would have predicted this batting masterclass from Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma especially after LSG's innings. Even batting in an easy mode in EA cricket is not as easy as they made it look today. It was clinical hitting and what was so astonishing to see, none of the shots were slogging. They held their base perfectly and kept clearing the fence with utmost ease. What this win has done is, it has propelled SRH to the third position with a much superior net run rate. The win also means that Mumbai Indians are officially knocked out of the tournament. The win also puts immense pressure on teams like LSG, CSK and DC as they desperately need to win their remaining games to give themselves a fair shot at qualifying for the playoffs. The IPL carnival continues tomorrow with the clash of Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings. The team losing that match will join Mumbai Indians as the second eliminated team. Do join us then and for many more sporting actions but for now, this is me (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) biding adieu on behalf of my fellow commentator Shashwat Kumar. Goodnight! Cheers!
Pat Cummins has been an inspiration captain not only for Australia but he has imbibed a new sense of fearlessness in this SRH team. As we wind up, switch 👇 to give a read to an exclusive interview of Pat Cummins where he speaks about the World Cup win and how he has enjoyed his time in India..
Travis Head is the Player of the Match, here is what he had to say: Yeah lot of fun. Abhi and I have forged along some good partnerships and it was great fun again batting with him. I was trying to get into position early and react to the ball. Got ahead of the rate in the first few overs and I felt we could maximise the powerplay. Yeah that is something I have been working hard on. Nice I was able to go 360 and play shots in different parts of the ground where I don't access much. The last twelve months, the Australian team wanted me to bat like this and here it was the same thing. Yeah beautiful for him to get a good score today. He works very hard and nice to see him get some runs today. We complement each other so well. We didn't think about the net run rate till the time out when the guys told us about that. I want to take this pitch everywhere. You have to win at home and own your home ground. I have not got many things over him (on going past David Warner). Chasing has been a bit tough for us and hopefully we keep on the good work in the remaining games.
Pat Cummins (Sunrisers Hyderabad captain): Maybe Trav and Abhi changed the pitch in the mid innings break (chuckles). Just let them go, two guys who are really positive. I am a bowler and it's hard to get answers when someone is going like that. Travis has been like this for the last two years. Not super conventional but he has got his methods. Yeah I haven't seen a lot of Abhi before the season. With two fielders out there it's really difficult for the bowlers. The par scores have gone up a lot. It's tough to come up with answers with the batters going like this. We love playing here but to win none down, it was something unbelievable.
Ayush Badoni bags the award for hitting most fours in the match.
Travis Head also gets the award for hitting most sixes in the match.
Travis Head also bags the award for the Ultimate Fantasy Player of the Match.
Travis Head bags the award for the electric striker of the match.
Time for the post-match presentation ceremony with Harsha Bhogle.
Abhishek Sharma (Sunrisers Hyderabad): I would never think going into a tournament to score so many runs at that strike-rate. I would like to thank the management for showing that faith in me. The team environment was such that I wanted to go out and enjoy myself. All the credit would go to him (Head). Even the first 2-3 balls go for boundaries and the last ball they try to get away with a dot ball. I just go and react to the ball. Before the innings started the bowlers told us that it was getting better. Me and Travis saw that the ball wasn't doing too much. They were short of runs. The hardwork I've put before the tournament, that's showing a bit now. Special thanks to Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) paaji, Brian (Lara) always and my dad, he's my first coach. I'm just trying to do what they've taught me and it's working for me.
KL Rahul (Lucknow Super Giants captain): (On the chase) I'm lost for words. We've watched that kind of batting on TV while they batted for a few games. But this was unbelievable. I have no words to describe how they were hitting the ball. Kudos to the skill level and I'm sure all of them have worked really, really hard with their six-hitting ability and you can see that. (Did the pitch change?) They didn't even give a chance to see what the wicket was playing like in the second innings. I think the pitch didn't change too much. When you have two batters coming in with that kind of mindset and freedom and they tee off from ball one, it's very hard to stop them. The only way to stop them was to get wickets in the powerplay but if you don't, it's very hard. (On the toss) Once you are on the losing side there are always question marks about the decisions you have taken. We felt it was a good thing to do, to bat first and put runs on the board. Obviously we were 40 or 50 runs short. The same thing keeps happening - when we lose wickets it's hard to put pressure on the opposition. Ayush and Nicholas batted really well to put that score on the board. But we always knew we were a lot of runs short. But the way they batted, even if we got 250 it may not have been enough.
Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 10 wickets (with 62 deliveries to spare)
Was this the same pitch where the Lucknow Supergiants struggled for the majority of the innings? Buoy, it was something extraordinary from the Sunrisers Hyderabad openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma as they made an absolute mockery of the LSG bowling attack and chased down the target of 166 with all ten wickets in hand and with more than 10 to spare.
The carnage never really stopped from the second over and the LSG bowlers had absolutely no answers in front of their brutal onslaught. After a tidy opening over from Krishnappa Gowtham where he conceded just 8 runs, Abhishek Sharma went berserk in the second over bowled by Yash Thakur smashing him for four boundaries.
Travis Head got into the act and this time Gowtham was at the recovering end of his brutal onslaught. He plundered the offie for three sixes and a four to continue the domination for Sunrisers. It didn't stop there as the duo matched each other shot for shot and continued piling the misery on the LSG bowlers. Head went on to complete a half century in just 16 deliveries but he was not ready to give up there.
They continued to decimate the LSG bowlers to all corners of the park and there was just no stopping the duo. Be it medium pacers, fast bowlers or spinners, none of them was spared as it was power hitting of the highest order. Head remained unbeaten on 89 off just 30 deliveries which included 8 fours and as many sixes while Abhishek Sharma's knock of 75 came in just 28 deliveries, an innings studded with 8 fours and six sixes.
And Abhishek has sealed it in grand style! If net run-rate was a stock, it's a bull market now if you're a Sunrisers Hyderabad fan. They have sent it skyrocketing by an outrageous extent as they return to winning ways and annihilate the Lucknow Super Giants. What a performance!
9.4 Yash Thakur to Abhishek Sharma, ABHISHEK FINISHES IT OFF IN STYLE! SRH HAVE HUNTED DOWN THIS TARGET INSIDE 10 OVERS AND WITH ALL 10 WICKETS IN HAND! Slower ball on a back of a length outside off. Sits up to be hit nicely and Abhishek goes through the line, creaming it all the way over the wide long off fence!
9.3 Yash Thakur to Travis Head, short and wide outside off. Head jabs it out towards extra cover and sets off. Gave up the ghost mid-way but the throw was wayward and well off the mark
Bhavyansh: "Oh... It is like we are watching highlights. Head and Abhishek just made the match one sided."
9.2 Yash Thakur to Travis Head, slow and hung up way outside off. Head reaches out for it and forehands it back past the bowler for a brace
9.1 Yash Thakur to Abhishek Sharma, full and wide outside off. Abhishek throws his hands at it and slices it towards deep cover point
Yash Thakur [2.0-0-37-0] is back into the attack.
So Head won't be able to record the joint-fastest T20 ton. He can still get to the mark though even as the Sunrisers require just nine more runs to win. Yup, we can't believe we're saying that a team needs nine runs to win in a chase of 166 with eleven overs to spare.