Travis Head played a gem of an innings, Abhishek Sharma was stunning and Heinrich Klaasen flamboyant as the trio fashioned Sunrisers Hyderabad’s impressive 31-run win against Mumbai Indians in a high-scoring IPL league match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Wednesday night.
Rollicking start
When Mumbai began the daunting chase of 278, it was obvious that the target was too high.
This despite Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan ensuring a rollicking start before both fell, going for big shots.
Later, local boy Tilak Varma showcased his power-hitting with a brilliant knock but that was not good enough as Sunrisers captain Pat Cummins struck the big blows — removing Rohit and Tilak — at crucial moments to short-circuit Mumbai Indians’ hopes.
Tim David too came up with some big hits towards the end but Mumbai needed something extraordinary which didn’t eventually happen.
Earlier, Mumbai’s gamble to put the host in backfired badly as the bowling looked very ordinary, with the stand-out exception, not surprisingly, being Jasprit Bumrah.
Sunrisers posted the highest ever total of 277 for three in IPL history, eclipsing the previous best of 263 for five by Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Pune Warriors in 2013.
Great move
The home team’s move to prefer Head to Marco Jansen proved to be a great one as the Australian opener, dropped on five at mid-off by Tim David off Hardik Pandya’s first ball in the second over of the innings, played some extravagant strokes, especially treating 18-year-old South African left-arm pacer Kwena Maphaka with disdain, pulling him nonchalantly for two huge sixes and straight driving to the fence with aplomb.
Southpaw Abhishek was equal to the occasion against both pace and spin — pulling pacer Gerald Coetzee for a six and later hitting leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for three sixes in his first over.
Century stand
Abhishek was busy hitting boundaries at will and later the South African duo of the classy Aiden Markram and the more belligerent Klaasen joined hands for an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 116 of 55 balls to push the visitors completely on the defensive.
MI 246/5 in 20 overs
MI managed 246 for five in their allotted 20 overs, riding on a 34-ball 64 by Tilak Varma and Tim David’s 22-ball 42 not out. For SRH, Pat Cummins (2/35) and Jaydev Unadkat (2/47) snapped two wickets each.
Teams
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Travis Head, Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat.
Mumbai Indians: Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka.
Brief Scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 277 for 3 in 20 overs (Heinrich Klassen 80 , Travis Head 62, Abhishek Sharma 63; Piyush Chawla 1/34).
Mumbai Indians: 246 for 5 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 64, Tim David 42 not out; Pat Cummins 2/35).
