Abhishek Sharma gifted the Sunrisers Hyderabad fans a mind-numbing century on Saturday. “This one is for Orange Army,” read the paper which he showed to the world after reaching his hundred. It would have also made sense had he written, “I’m a one-man army”.
Abhishek’s innings of 141 off 55 balls enabled Sunrisers Hyderabad to chase down a massive 246-run target with ease and register a sensational eight-wicket win with nine balls remaining over Punjab Kings at home on Saturday.
After four losses on the trot, the problems compounded for the Sunrisers as Shreyas Iyer and Marcus Stoinis powered Punjab to 245/6 following a roaring start from their openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh.
On a Hyderabad pitch that was again a graveyard for bowlers, the Sunrisers needed something special from ‘Travishek’ (as the Travis Head-Abhishek pair is referred to) in their run chase after their bowlers — Mohammed Shami (0/75) in particular — were carted to all corners.
Head gave his team a headstart with a few boundaries and Abhishek picked up from there. The left-hander raced to his half-century with boundaries and sixes flowing from his blade before bringing up his hundred — his first in the IPL — in 40 balls.
With shots on both sides of the wicket, Abhishek was seemingly imperious on the leg side. Such was his confidence that he even exposed his stumps on several occasions to guide the ball for a four. That included an almost yorker-length delivery fromMarco Jansen. Abhishek, however, was agile enough to get his bat behind the line and work it for a boundary to the fine-leg region.
Precisely, he just toyed with the Punjab bowlers as he inched closer to the three-figure mark. With Head being a perfect assist, the duo racked up 171 in just over 12 overs that practically sealed the game for the Sunrisers.
Abhishek continued tormenting Punjab even after Head’s departure, finishing with 14 boundaries and 10 maximums to post the highest score by an Indian in the IPL.
Costly misses
Punjab also messed it up with their catching, giving two reprieves to Abhishek on 28 and 56. Pacer Yash Thakur overstepped in the fourth ball of the fourth overwhen Abhishek was taken at deep point.
Thereafter, Yuzvendra Chahal dropped the Sunrisers opener off his own bowling in the first ball of the eighth over of the run chase. Besides, Punjab couldn’t obtain the services of pacer Lockie Ferguson, who left the field owing to a quadriceps injury after bowling just two balls.
But all said and done, Abhishek looked simply unstoppable in this game.
Knock in vain
Punjab’s opening partnership had laid the perfect foundation for Shreyas to power his team forward. Six boundaries and as many maximums adorned the Punjab captain’s innings before he fell in the 18th over off Harshal Patel, who was the pick of the Sunrisers bowlers.
Yes, Shreyas had a reprieve on 42 off Zeeshan Ansari’s bowling when Abhishek dropped a catch at long-off before it went for a six. That said, the fluency with which Shreyas batted and the ease with which he churned out his strokes once again stood out.
Newest sensation Priyansh and his opening partner Prabhsimran took Punjab off to a flier before captain Shreyas rode his good form to top-score for his team with a 36-ball 82, powering the total past 200.
Marcus Stoinis’ unbeaten 34 off 11 balls was the icing on the cake.
For the Sunrisers, the performance of Shami — a vital cog of their bowling attack — is turning out to be a big concern. Right from the onset on Saturday, the senior India pacer got his length wrong and wastaken to the cleaners by the Punjab openers.
But in the end, it was only about Abhishek.
