27 March,2024 07:00 AM IST | Mumbai | N Jagannath Das
SRH’s Travis Head en route his 24-ball 62 against MI at Hyderabad yesterday; Heinrich Klaasen hit a 34-ball 80 not out; Abhishek Sharma scored a 23-ball 63. Pics/PTI ,AFP
On a day when it rained sixes and fours, Sunrisers Hyderabad galloped away to a record highest IPL score of 277-3 against a helpless Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Wednesday.
SRH thus became the third team to post a 250-plus total in IPL history.
At the time of going to press, MI were 141-2 after 10 overs.
Also Read: IPL 2024 | MI vs SRH: Record-breaking SRH beat MI by 31 runs
Head, the Australian left-handed opener, who hit that blistering 137 in the ODI World Cup final against India, smashed a 24-ball 62 (9x4, 3x6) to set the ball rolling for SRH. Young left-hander Abhishek Sharma (63, 23b, 3x4, 7x6) joined the party with Head to blow away the MI attack. Skipper Hardik Pandya's decision to field first backfired as an avalanche of runs flowed right from the first over. Chants of "Rohit, Rohit" reverberated the stadium as the India skipper quietly patrolled the cover region. Later on, the SA duo of Aiden Markram (42 not out; 28b, 2x4, 1x6) and hard-hitting Heinrich Klaasen (80 not out 34b, 4x4, 7x6) joined the run-riot with a 116-run stand off 55 balls. As many as 19 fours and 18 sixes were hit by SRH.
Head was brought in place of Marco Jansen and immediately made an impact for his team. Young SA left-arm pacer Kwena Maphaka had a nightmarish game. Head struck 6,6,4,4 in Maphaka's second over. Abhishek was not left far beyond. Joining Head after Pandya dismissed Mayank Agarwal in the fifth over, Abhishek's first four shots were sixes, three off leg-spinner Piyush Chawla and one off Gerald Coetzee. Maphaka was mauled again in his third over as he leaked 20 runs. Coetzee could not control to runs too as he went for 23.
Surprisingly, Jasprit Bumrah was overlooked even as SRH massacred the MI attack. He was brought in for the fourth over and conceded only five runs. But the Indian pacer had to wait for nine overs before he was brought back in the 13th over.