Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head (R) and Abhishek Sharma during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty-20 cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Delhi Capitals, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday, April 20, 2024.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

The destructive Travis Head has called his Sunrisers Hyderabad opening partner Abhishek Sharma an exciting talent for Indian cricket after the duo combined to pummel the Lucknow Super Giants bowling attack in a record IPL chase here.

Head (89 not out off 30) and Sharma (75 not out off 28), who have formed one of the most explosive pairings in the IPL this season, made a mockery of the 166-run target by overhauling it in just 9.4 overs. It was the highest ever 10 over score in history of men’s T20 cricket.

Both the southpaws hit fours and sixes for fun in what was a sensational display of power-hitting.

“The partnership with Abhi has been fantastic, he’s such an exciting talent for Indian cricket. We complement each other so well and he’s very very enjoyable to be around, he’s so excited and thinks about the game and yeah he’s got a lot of energy so it’s a great partnership to be involved in,” said Head in the post-match press conference on Wednesday.

Head is in top form ahead of the T20 World Cup in the Americas next month, having aggregated 533 runs in 11 innings at an astonishing strike rate of 201.89. Sharma too has been striking at over 200.

“Whenever you’re playing you want to be be as consistent as you can, you want to be getting runs. It’s nice to be among the runs been nice to be playing well. That’s not going to guarantee anything in the West Indies but it gives me the best chance to be in a very good mindset,” said Head.

“Working hard on training and I think we face a fair bit of spin in the Caribbean and wickets might become tougher as the tournament goes. So very pleased with how I played spin tonight, things that I’m working on in training are somewhat working in the moment,” he added.

Sharma had also earned high praise from West Indies legend Brian Lara, who is a former coach of SRH.

“Again he is someone who I met while I was batting coach of SRH. I spent two years there. I am allowed to a bit biased when I see a left-hander, I just love a left-hander.”

“Myself and Abhishek have developed a very good relationship, these youngsters are very humble. they want to learn,” Lara had said.

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma went hammer and tongs at the hapless Sunrisers attack.
| Photo Credit: M. Vedhan

There was no rain on match day. But to the delight of a capacity crowd at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, it was a deluge of fours and sixes as the left-handed opening pair of Abhishek Sharma (75 n.o., 28b, 8×4, 6×6) and Travis Head (89 n.o., 30b, 8×4, 8×6) made a mockery of the victory target of 166, in a chase lasting just 47 minutes, against Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday.

Clearly, Sunrisers Hyderabad’s focus was not just on scripting a quick victory but also keep an eye on the Net Run Rate to steer clear of the jam in the points table. It did it in style with a resounding 10-wicket win in just 9.4 overs thanks to some breathtaking stroke-play which left every bowler clueless.

It was arguably one of the most savage onslaughts by an opening pair at this venue as Abhishek (Impact Player for pacer T. Natarajan) and Head batted as if they were rehearsing some strokes in the ‘nets.’ There was nothing to rave about for any bowler, as all of them were hapless and mute spectators to a brutal batting display.

Earlier, Super Giants’ top-order failed before a fighting 99-run unbroken partnership off 52 balls for the fifth wicket between the classy Nicholas Pooran and the 24-year-old Ayush Badoni saw the team post what looked a competitive score at the innings break.

Pooran and Badoni came up with wonderful stroke selection under pressure, especially in the last five overs when they scored 63 runs.

For the home team, both the left-arm pacer and death overs specialist Natarajan, and skipper Pat Cummins were expensive

The seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar was easily the pick of the bowlers, conceding just 12 runs from his quota of four overs while taking the crucial wickets of Quinton de Kock (2) and Marcus Stoinis (3) thanks to some brilliant fielding by Nitish Kumar Reddy and Sanvir Singh respectively. It was not a kind of PowerPlay Lucknow would have hoped for after electing to bat — scoring just 27 for two.

SCOREBOARD

LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS

K.L. Rahul c Natarajan b Cummins 29 (33b, 1×4, 1×6), Quinton de Kock c Nitish b Bhuvneshwar 2 (5b), Marcus Stoinis c Sanvir b Bhuvneshwar 3 (5b), Krunal Pandya run out 24 (21b, 2×6) Nicholas Pooran (not out) 48 (26b, 6×4, 1×6), Ayush Badoni (not out) 55 (30b, 9×4); Extras (lb-1, w-3): 4; Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs): 165.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-13 (de Kock, 2.1 overs), 2-21 (Stoinis, 4.2), 3-57 (Rahul, 9.6), 4-66 (Krunal, 11.2).

SUNRISERS BOWLING

Bhuvneshwar 4-0-12-2, Cummins 4-0-47-1, Shahbaz 2-0-9-0, Viyaskanth 4-0-27-0, Unadkat 2-0-19-0, Natarajan 4-0-50-0.

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD

Abhishek Sharma (Impact Player in place of Natarajan) (not out) 75 (28b, 8×4, 6×6), Travis Head (not out) 89 (30b, 8×4, 8×6); Extras (lb-1, w-2): 3; Total (for no loss in 9.4 overs): 167.

SUPER GIANTS BOWLING

Gowtham 2-0-29-0, Yash Thakur 2.4-0-47-0, Bishnoi 2-0-34-0, Naveen 2-0-37-0, Badoni 1-0-19-0.

Toss: LSG. PoM: Head

SRH won by 10 wickets with 62 balls to spare.

Australia’s Mitchell Marsh addresses the media during a press conference on the eve of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match against Netherlands in New Delhi, on October 24, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Australia will not brush aside the late collapse against Pakistan and will look to address their batting frailties in the back end when they face the Netherlands in their World Cup match, said in-form all-rounder Mitchell Marsh on October 24.

David Warner (163) and Marsh (121) smashed superlative hundreds, forging a 259-run stand for the opening wicket but a late collapse saw them eventually finish at 367 for 9 against Pakistan.

“I think individually everyone would have addressed that. To be honest I thought Pakistan bowled really well and gave us a bit of a blueprint on how to go about it certainly towards the back end of the innings,” Marsh said during the pre-match press conference.

“They’re a very good outfit and we were able to get on top of them in the first half of the innings, but they came back strongly, and you expect that from teams like Pakistan.

“So, we’ll address it, and hopefully moving forward, we can have a great last 10 overs and apply some pressure to other teams,” he said ahead of Australia’s match against the Dutch here on Wednesday.

Batting at number 3

Travis Head, who had injured his left hand during a World Cup warm-up match in South Africa, is firming up for a return after hitting the nets here ahead of the Netherlands clash.

Asked if Head will play tomorrow, Marsh said: “Yeah, I think that decision will be made this afternoon/tonight. He looked good, a bit of range hitting last night. He says the hand feels good. So, I’m sure if he’s fit, he’ll be available for selection in the team.

“I’m not sure who he’ll replace at this stage, but I presume that if he’s fit and he gets through today that he’ll play, but that decision will be made tonight.” Marsh also said he has no issues slipping back to No. 3 in case Head regains his opening slot.

“I’m very happy to go back down to three. I’ve obviously batted there a lot over the last couple of years, so I feel really comfortable at three. And if and when Heady comes back in, I think that’s the best position for me to play for this team,” he said.

It has been a World Cup of upsets with Afghanistan stunning defending champions England and Pakistan, while the Netherlands shocking South Africa the other day.

“Yeah, teams have got better. I think that’s great for world cricket, certainly in tournaments like this that can sometimes be pretty long. And you see a lot of games that are not exactly close or competitive,” he said.

“But we’ve said it multiple times now in this tournament this year, there’s absolutely no easy games. And you go into every game having done all the appropriate homework and hopefully you can come out with a win.

“So, tomorrow is no different for us. We respect the Netherlands; they’re playing some good cricket and that will be a tough challenge.” Talking about his evolution as a cricketer, Marsh said: “I’ve still worked hard for a long period of time to hopefully keep improving. And there’s no doubt that I’ve had probably more opportunities at the top of the order and more time to bat in the white ball format.

“Not a whole lot’s changed, I’ve just probably not given up on the fact that I was striving for something and kept working hard through periods of time that were tougher than others.

“In the last couple of years, I feel I’ve been as consistent as I could have been, which was something I was always striving for. I guess all the best players in the world that you look up to, and certainly in our team, they’re so consistent. And that’s what I was.” It has been a long season for Australia but Marsh said the experience of the players have helped them to be in great frame of mind despite the initial reversals.

“India probably play the most cricket out of anyone. And I guess from our point of view and from my point of view, it’s leaning on experience of the past,” he said.

“We’ve got a team full of a lot of experience at the moment, guys who’ve played 12 months of the year for the last probably six or seven years. So, we’re not in unfamiliar territory, whilst we had a slow start and we were put under pressure at times, the vibe in the team is great.

“We’ve played really good cricket in the last two games and hopefully that’s the case tomorrow.”

Australia’s Travis Head during the 1st Betway ODI between South Africa and Australia at Mangaung Oval on September 07, 2023 in Bloemfontein, South Africa.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Australia’s Travis Head returned to nets on Sunday having recovered from a fracture on his left-hand, and the middle-order batter is expected to travel to India on Thursday to join his country’s World Cup squad.

Head had his protective splint removed from his hand on Friday. The South Australian had suffered a fracture on his hand after getting hit by South African pacer Gerald Coetzee at Centurion ahead of the World Cup.

Although he might miss Australia’s fixture against Pakistan on Friday in Bengaluru, Head could feature against the Netherlands on October 25 in Delhi, provided he passes the fitness test.

“It’s coming along well, and probably better than we hoped. When we decided not to go with surgery, which would have meant a 10-week recovery, we were told it would be minimum six weeks with the splint before we could look at playing again,” Head was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

“Going by that plan, the Netherlands game will be just under six weeks from impact, which is a pretty aggressive date, so everything would have to go perfectly from here to make that deadline,” he added.

Considering the nature of the injury, Head said he was still ascertaining his ability to field.

“I’m not sure what it will mean for fielding. We haven’t explored that yet,” said Head.

“There’s still a few hurdles we need to clear, and everything needs to fall into place from my end and from the team’s point of view over there before the final decision is made,” he added.

Australia are yet to taste a win in the World Cup and they are placed ninth on the 10-team table after having lost both their matches.