At Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, the Sunrisers Hyderabad opening pair dominated the current era of Twenty20 cricket by smashing the ball all over the field to defeat the Lucknow Super Giants handily.
It is overstating the strike rate. KL Rahul did mention that a few years ago, though. After seeing Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma up close at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, he has most likely altered his mind on that.
The visitors looked inexperienced with the ball and had no idea how to bat, as SRH triumphed by a margin of ten wickets.
Marcus Stoinis and Quinton de Kock were the first two wickets that Lucknow lost during their batting innings. After this, captain KL Rahul produced one of the slowest runs in IPL history. Despite the surface being a batter’s paradise, Rahul managed to score 29 runs off just 33 balls. As captain, he ought to have set an exemplary example, but the opener never seemed at ease, which put strain on LSG.
But Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni took charge and saved LSG from certain death. LSG scored 165 runs in the first inning, Badoni scored 55 runs off 30 balls, and Pooran smashed 48 runs off 26 balls.
It never seemed enough, but SRH gave the impression that it was absurdly tiny. After smashing 107 runs in the powerplay, Head and Abhishek didn’t give up and took just 9.4 overs to chase down the total. As SRH secured a decisive victory, Head struck 89 runs off 30 balls, while Sharma hammered 75 runs off 28 deliveries.
1. KL Rahul: The Villain
Although the word “villain” may sound harsh, in the end, it proved to be the correct one. As the opener, Rahul ought to have played better cricket on that kind of surface, but he appeared illiterate. A strike rate of 87.88 is incredibly low, and no team should let their opener have that kind of performance. He even gave the ball to Ayush Badoni in the second innings when SRH was having fun hitting boundaries, which at the moment made very little sense. For KL Rahul, it was a difficult day all around.
2. Badoni and Pooran saved LSG
The 99-run partnership between Pooran and Badoni was instrumental in saving Lucknow. The other hitters were dreadful, and just when it appeared that LSG would not be able to muster a respectable score, Pooran and Badoni produced some outstanding cricket. Even if it ultimately proved insufficient, it undoubtedly prevented LSG from suffering a humiliating loss.
Also read: IPL 2024: Sunrisers Hyderabad 2nd innings highlights against LSG in Match 57
3. freak show of ridiculousness
Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head transformed T20 cricket. It’s fair to say that now. Once again, the openers shattered numerous records and pushed boundaries just for fun. They looked amazing, something even KL Rahul subsequently acknowledged as well. If they maintain this momentum, the two might certainly fight for the title.
Losing skipper KL Rahul said:
Am lost for words. We have watched that kind of batting on tv. But this is unreal batting. Everything seemed to find the middle of the bat. Kudos to their skills. They have worked hard on their six hitting skills. They didn’t give us a chance to know what the pitch played in the second innings. Was hard to stop them as they teed off from ball one.
Once you are on the losing side, there are questions marks on the decisions taken. We were 40-50 runs short. When we lost wickets in the powerplay, we couldn’t get any momentum. Ayush and Nicky batted well to get us to 166. But even if we would have got 240, they could have chased it as well.
Winning skipper Pat Cummins said:
(On did he change the pitch) Maybe Travis and Abhishek did. We just let them go, they are two guys who are very positive and I’m a bowler, it is tough for me to give them any inputs. He’s been like this for 2 years, he hits the tough areas, hits the middle a lot, might not be super conventional. Just an incredible player of spin and pace. With just 2 fielders out, it is really difficult for the bowlers against them.
I think the scores have gone up, and when the wickets are good, it is tough to come up with answers against batters when they get going. The boys have had a fantastic season, but to win this with less than 10 overs played in unreal.
POTM Travis Head said:
Lot of fun today. Nice to get this done in 10 overs. Abhi and I have had a few partnerships like this. Just concentrate on getting in good positions, watch the ball hard and try to maximise the powerplay. It is something I have been working on, it will be a big part in the Caribbean as well. It is important to go 360 in the modern game. The last 12 months, that’s how they wanted me to play in the Aussie team, and that’s what I’ve been told to do here as well. Nothing much that I have to change.
I know how hard he works and how deep he thinks, his spin play is second to none. We compliment each other very well. We didn’t think about it till the Timeout, but after that the boys came out and told us to score quickly.
India
