Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) batting star Travis Head ‘never expected’ the way he and fellow opener Abhishek Sharma chased down the total of 166 in 9.4 overs in the IPL 2024 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Wednesday night at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Head smashed a 16-ball half-century with an astonishing display of cricket pitching and remained unbeaten with 89 off just 33 deliveries to guide his team home. He, along with his opening pair Abhishek Sharma, scored 166 runs in the opening partnership and scored 107 runs in the power play compared to LSG’s 27.
“I don’t think we expected to chase him like that,” Head acknowledged in the post-game press conference. “It looked like a difficult wicket in the first innings, it looked like it was holding and a slow pitch. I think knowing that, as a batsman, you know the powerplay is important. (We were) trying to maximize that and we bowled beautifully, we managed to get ahead of the rate, which is good. And once we got going in the first two or three overs, it was just a matter of trying to maximize that as much as we could and I felt like we picked our targets and played really well,” he said.
SRH saw off LSG’s challenge, first suffocating them with the new ball and then bowling a sensational chase of 166 in just 9.4 overs, the highest score from 10 overs in any T20. In all of T20 cricket, only seven times 100 or more scored in the powerplay, SRH have the two highest scores, both in IPL 2024.
“You always want to perform well, you always want to be consistent, you always want to try to get the job done; That’s not always going to happen in T20 cricket (but) I thought the way we’ve been playing is great. We’re going to have ups and downs, we had that. It’s good to be able to chase the score tonight after being pressured by the batting (first).
“A couple of times that we’ve chased throughout the season, we’ve been put under pressure. To be able to do the job tonight, and chase, (is great). Looking forward to the next two games, being at home as well,” the boss said.
Head and Abhishek have combined for three centuries in the IPL, with two of them coming in the powerplay. SRH is the only team with more than an opening century in IPL 2024.
“It’s good to come here and contribute. I wasn’t sure if I was going to play. It’s good to start, it’s good to be performing, and the partnership with Abhi has been fantastic. He’s an exciting talent for Indian cricket, he’s exceptional. We bond we complement each other well and he’s very, very enjoyable to be around. He’s so excited and thinks about the game, he’s got a lot of energy, so he’s a great partnership to be involved with,” Head said of the opener. position before he added that the middle order also played a key role for the SSR.
“I think the Kings game (against Punjab Kings) is a model for us in how we can conduct the game. It won’t always work at the top of the order, we will lose wickets, but we want to be brave across the middle. [Reddy] played some unbelievable innings, obviously we have Klassy (Heinrich Klaasen) and (Abdul) Samad completing that for us…
“Everyone is confident, everyone is playing well, we are not dependent on the top order. Yes, we are playing well, but I don’t think that defines the team. … we’re doing really well at the moment,” she concluded.
SRH will face Gujarat Titans on May 16 and conclude the league stage on May 19 against Punjab Kings at their home ground.
–IANS
hs/bc
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