Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma brought their fear factor in the chase in a proper takedown of pace as well as spin
Deivarayan Muthu09-May-20242:15
Rapid Fire Review: Head and Abhishek, or Salt and Narine?
“Oh, wow!”This was Abhishek Sharma’s reaction to his strike rate of 205.64 in IPL 2024. The rest of the world reacted similarly to the unreal demolition job led by Travis Head and Abhishek on Wednesday in Hyderabad.They chased down 166 in a mere 58 balls. It was the highest-ever ten-over score in men’s T20 cricket. Head clattered 89 not out off 30 and Abhishek 75 not out off 28. Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul did not know what hit them.Related
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Travishek (Travis and Abhishek) had clattered a world-record 125 together in the powerplay in Delhi earlier this season while batting first. Perhaps, fearing that history might repeat itself in a high-stakes fixture, with the race for the playoffs heating up, Rahul opted to take first strike and challenged Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase a target, something that has bothered them this IPL.History, however, did repeat itself, with Travishek bringing their fear factor in a chase too. As for LSG, they’ve been particularly efficient at defending totals. Since their inception in 2022, they’ve batted first in 22 games, and have won 15. Their win-loss ratio of 2.5 is the best among all teams in the league. On Wednesday, though, they had no answer to SRH’s opening salvo and their defence was breached even before they could bring in their Impact Player.ESPNcricinfo Ltd”I’m lost for words,” a shell-shocked Rahul said after the match. “We watched that kind of batting on TV but this was like unreal batting…I have no words to describe how well they were hitting the ball. Everything seemed to find the middle of the bat and I guess kudos to the skill level and I’m sure all of them have worked really, really hard with their six-hitting ability and you can see that in the middle.”We always knew that we were a lot of runs short but the way they batted even if we had gotten 250, it seemed like they would get it.”LSG had entered the game with solid plans. They gave offspinner K Gowtham his first match of the season and matched him up with the left-handed pair of Head and Abhishek in the powerplay on what appeared like a sluggish surface in the first half. But SRH’s openers took the pitch out of the equation and whacked Gowtham for 29 in his first two overs.Gowtham had aimed to take the ball away from Head from around the wicket, but the batter jumped out of his crease, didn’t allow the ball to turn and launched a six into the sightscreen. Gowtham then shifted to plan B – bowl into the pitch and slide it into the body of Head – but the result was still the same, with the ball landing near the sightscreen.
A destructive opening partnership would be an understatement tonight. Had these boys batted first, they would’ve scored 300! #SRHvLSG #IPL2024 pic.twitter.com/b1Q4gwmHO2
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) May 8, 2024