Pitch no. 2! SRH will want to carry that everywhere they go. A whirlwind innings from Abhishek, one that no one will forget anytime soon. Shashank Kishore's report is up, so in case you missed any of the action, he has you covered. And that ends a run-filled Saturday. The matches come in thick and fast in IPL 2025 and Super Sunday will see another double header with RR taking on RCB in an afternoon game in Jaipur and DC clashing with MI in Delhi. That's it from us tonight. Thanks for tuning in. We will be back nice and early tomorrow. Till then, this is me, Ashish Pant, signing off on behalf of Ekanth, Thilak and Raghav. Ciao!
Abhishek Sharma is the player of the match: Special mention to the team and captain. The atmosphere was simple even though the batters were not doing well. It was a special day for both of us. [Any shot he liked ] If you have seen me close enough I never play behind the wicket. But I was wanting to invent a few shots which was very easy on this wicket. It helped us both. [On his parents being at the ground] I have been waiting for them. My whole team was waiting for my parents because they gave been lucky for SRH. [Chat with Head] We didn't talk anything. It was just natural play for us. The partnership boosted me up. [His best knock?] This one is very special, because I wanted to break that losing streak. Losing four match back to back was very tough. But we never talked about it in the team. Special mention to Yuvi paji and Suryakumar as well. They have been touch with me.
SRH captain, Pat Cummins: [Pitch] I think it suits our style, as a bowling group we know what we're going to get. We've got to kind of hold a bit to our seats and try to hang on. [Conceded too many?] I think you don't have too many options, it's a good wicket, the slower balls aren't really reacting, ball pings around here, so you just try. Anything under 10 you feel like it's a big win as well.
[Chase] I feel like they've done a couple, but that was phenomenal. It's kind of crazy that you feel semi-confident that you're going to chase it when it's 250, that would be tremendous. [On Abhishek Sharma] Yeah, I'm a pretty big fan of Abhi. Look, we spoke about it before the match. We've been really happy with how everyone's going and training and the form, it just hasn't clicked. So we didn't want to change the recipe or tear it apart. We just keep concentrating on what makes us good players and Abhi showed that first hand. [Chat at mid-innings] Not much. I think that's one of the strengths of our squad. The batting group particularly played quite a bit here last year. And there's a real confidence .
Presentation time
Shreyas Iyer: It was a fantastic total. It has been making me laugh with the way they have chased it with two overs to spare. [On what could have changed] We could have taken two exceptional catches. He [Abhisek] was a bit lucky as well even though he played an exceptional knock. Catches win you matches and we fell short there. We didn't bowl well but we have to go back to the drawing board. The way he smashed the ball and the opening partnership was great. Over here, the over rotation would have been better from my side. [On Lockie's injury ]It was a big impact. He is someone who can get you instant wickets. That was a big blow. He is someone who clicks 140 at all times and niggles happen. Other bowlers are also there to win matches. So no excuses. [Ten runs short?] When we discussed out there, we thought 230 was a good score. But with the dew coming in, it made the wicket a bit easier. Also credit where due. The way they batted was out of the world. It was one of the best knocks I have seen in the IPL.
Travis Head: [Feelings] Not bad. Nice to get on the winner's list. We needed it. We had our work cut out at halfway stage. We wanted to give ourselves a chance. I was a bit patient in the first two overs. Abhi got off to a flier. Nice to get back into the rhythm. We just wanted to make sure to do the small things right like we did last year. We complement each other really well. We got a bit lucky as well, which was nice. This particular wicket has had a lot of high scores. No. 2 seems to have a lot of high scores. We knew it was not out of reach. [Banter with Maxwell and Stoinis] It is always fun playing against team-mates. A bit of friendly batter.
11.21pm And, breathe! 492 runs scored and we still had nine balls remaining in this chase. WOW! Seldom there are knocks where you run out of words. This was one such night. in Hyderabad. Abhishek Sharma came out like a man possessed and he did not stop. He had his chances, make no mistake. He could have been dismissed on 28 but Yash Thakur overstepped. A number of his mis-hits landed in no-man's land. But, he was adamant to make it count. And, boy did Hyderabad have a gala time witnessing him doing that! He tonked every bowler all around the park to bring up his maiden IPL century off just 40 balls. He then took out a piece of paper which said, 'this one's for you Orange Army'. The opening stand with Travis Head was 171 off just 75 balls and SRH sailed through chasing 245. With the win, SRH jumps ahead of CSK and MI on the points table and move to eighth. PBKS move down to sixth on the table.
Just three to get
Yash Thakur back on from around the wicket. SRH need 6 from 12.
END OF OVER:18 | 16 Runs | SRH: 240/2 (6 runs required from 12 balls, RR: 13.33, RRR: 3.00)
- Heinrich Klaasen17 (13b)
- Ishan Kishan6 (4b)
- Shashank Singh2-0-27-0
- Arshdeep Singh4-0-37-1
SRH need 22 runs in 18 balls.
END OF OVER:17 | 6 Runs 1 Wkt | SRH: 224/2 (22 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 13.17, RRR: 7.33)
- Heinrich Klaasen6 (9b)
- Ishan Kishan1 (2b)
- Arshdeep Singh4-0-37-1
- Yash Thakur2-0-33-0
Here's Ishan Kishan
Abhishek Sharma c sub (P Dubey) b Arshdeep Singh 141 (88m 55b 14x4 10x6) SR: 256.36
SRH need 28 runs in 24 balls. This could be all over very quickly.
END OF OVER:16 | 13 Runs | SRH: 218/1 (28 runs required from 24 balls, RR: 13.62, RRR: 7.00)
- Abhishek Sharma137 (53b)
- Heinrich Klaasen5 (7b)
- Yash Thakur2-0-33-0
- Yuzvendra Chahal4-0-56-1
Time out time and damn my fingers need an ice pack
Raj Patel : "This knock from Abhishek is legit the best IPL innings I've seen in all 18 years ⊠such runs under immense pressure "
Prashant: "A batsman is making Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen looking like they are struggling to bat. Take a note of this day, folks, this achievement may never happen again."
Srini: "Wow..T20 these days. SRH can think about upping NRR chasing 245"
Raja: "@Sufi - You were saying?"