Mumbai: Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Abhishek Sharma, going by his own excellent knock last season, had a highest score of 24 in the first five games of this IPL season going into Saturday’s game against Punjab Kings. The left-hander banished any doubts about his batting with a sensational show of hitting, powering to 141, as SRH swept to an eight-wicket win at home.
Sharma smashed 14 fours and 10 sixes in a 55-ball display that made light of achieving the second highest chase in IPL history, getting it done in a mere 18.3 overs. Sharma’s knock was the third highest ever in the league.
Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer’s swashbuckling 82 (36 balls) and Marcus Stoinis blitz of four sixes off the last four balls had set up a daunting total of 245/6, but those efforts were reduced to a side show by the brilliance of Sharma at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
The young left-handed opener turned Yuzvendra Chahal’s last ball of the 13th over to wide long-on for a single to complete a sparkling century. Celebrating the landmark, the explosive batter raised his bat to the crowd, removed the helmet and took out a piece of paper from his pocket to raise to the crowd all around the stadium.
On a belter of a pitch, there was no stopping the SRH opener. He hit three more sixes in overs 15th and 16th to bring the equation down to 28 off 24 balls. Finally, out for 141 after holing out in the deep, he walked back to a standing ovation.
The victory helped establish SRH’s batting prowess and halt a poor run off four defeats in a row. It was PBKS’ second loss in five games.
The value of a fast start in T20 cricket can’t be over-emphasised. SRH sure know it best. Last season, when openers Head and Abhishek were giving the treatment to the bowlers, they were the most dreaded team. It showed in the results as they comfortably made it to the playoffs, eventually finishing runners-up.
This season, the magic had been missing from the bat of Head and Abhishek and SRH has suffered their worst start in IPL, losing four games in a row to languish at the bottom of the pile. A 45-run partnership in 3.1 overs in the opening game against Rajasthan Royals was their best association before Saturday.
On Saturday, batting first PBKS served the hosts a reminder of their own successful formula by racing away to 89/1 in six overs. Iyer cashed in on the good work done by openers Prabhsimran Singh and Pratyush Arya, who put on 66 in four overs, to help PBKS amass 245/6 after electing to bat.
While the opening act of Arya and Prabhsimran made for agonising watch for the SRH players, it seemed to have flicked on a switch for Head and Abhishek. For them, it was watching how they played together when at their best last season.
After a string of poor opening partnerships, the two came out all guns blazing. In a scintillating 171-run partnership off 12.2 overs, they laid the foundation for the famous win. The duo powered SRH to 83/0 in six overs, to match PBKS’ start. Abhishek raced to fifty off 20 balls while Head played a strong support act with 28 off 19 balls. When Head finally fell for 66 (37 balls), they needed 75 off 46 balls. To the delight of the home crowd, Abhishek completed his 100 off 40 balls (11×4, 6×6).
Earlier, SRH had a dreadful start to the game as all their three pacers used in the powerplay went for over 20 runs each in two overs. Mohammed Shami suffered the most, going for 4-0-75-0, the second most expensive spell in IPL.
