Sachin Tendulkar was left awestruck by Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma’s unbeaten opening partnership which led SRH to an easy win vs LSG.
Sunrisers Hyderabad were utterly dominant as they sealed a one-sided victory against Lucknow Super Giants in their IPL 2024 fixture, on Wednesday. Openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma remained unbeaten as SRH cruised to 167/0 in 9.4 overs, in their chase of 166 runs.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma celebrate after winning vs LSG.(PTI)
Abhishek, who slotted in as his side’s Impact Player, smacked an unbeaten knock of 75 runs off 28 balls, packed with eight fours and six sixes. Meanwhile, Head clattered an unbeaten knock of 89 off 30 deliveries, slamming eight fours and eight sixes in the process.
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Their batting display was simply sensational and also received plaudits from all corners. Meanwhile, India legend Sachin Tendulkar took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and called it ‘an understatement’.
He wrote, “A destructive opening partnership would be an understatement tonight. Had these boys batted first, they would’ve scored 300!”
Initially, a two-wicket haul from Bhuvneshwar Kumar saw SRH restrict LSG to 165/4 in 20 overs. Meanwhile, Ayush Badoni (55*) and Nicholas Pooran (48*) remained unbeaten for LSG. The result also meant that MI have been eliminated from the playoffs race.
SRH won with 62 balls to spare, which also became the best win in IPL with most balls to spare in 100-plus targets. SRH’s win is followed by DC’s win vs Punjab Kings in 2022, where 57 balls were left to spare in a chase of 117 runs.
Brilliant hitting from duo
On Wednesday, Head and Abhishek faced the second-fewest balls in IPL history to get to their 100-run partnership, coming up against 34 deliveries. They are also on top of the leaderboard in this statistic, facing only 30 balls against DC this year. After the win, SRH climbed to third position in the standings with 14 points. Meanwhile, LSG remained in sixth with 12 points.
Lauding Head, Abhishek said, “All the credit goes to him (Head). The way he starts against all bowlers.. he goes after them from the start and takes the pressure off. The bowlers told us (during the innings break) that it was getting better, but myself and Travis thought it was not doing much.”
Meanwhile, the Aussie opener praised Abhishek. He said, “I know how hard he works and how deep he thinks, his spin play is second to none. We compliment each other very well. Nice to see him back amongst the runs after missing out the last couple of game.”
