Synopsis: After four straight defeats, Sunrisers Hyderabad delivered the chase of the season as Abhishek Sharma smashes the highest-ever score by an Indian batter in the history of IPL.
It sounds unfathomable, but by the time the second strategic time-out was taken in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s run-chase of 246, the result was all but decided. Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head – dubbed Travishek after their exploits last season but yet to fire collectively this year – came up with a stunning 171-run partnership of 75 balls to ease past Punjab Kings’ massive first innings total of 245/6 in Hyderabad with nine balls to spare.
Abhishek Sharma’s blitz
After scoring his century, Abhishek Sharma pulled out a piece of paper on which there was a message written: “This is for the Orange Army.” It was an exhilarating innings from Abhishek and it repaid the faith SRH’s fans have come to repose on him. He has not been at his fluent best this season so far, and neither did he look his best against Punjab, as there were a few iffy moments that went his way. But as the adage goes, luck favours the brave. Despite previous failures, Abhishek stuck to the only approach he knew: being hyperaggressive. The dimensions were skewed – one side longer than the other – but it did not matter for Abhishek; no matter where the ball landed on the pitch, more often than not the ball was sent into the stands. He had time to pick the gaps, his mind was pre-coded exactly on what length the bowler would be bowling. He would premeditate a few times, and also a few times would use his supreme ability to wait as long as possible and then unleash his imperious bat swing.
𝘼 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙚-𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙮 𝙏𝙊𝙉 💯
A stunning maiden #TATAIPL century from Abhishek Sharma keeps #SRH on 🔝 in this chase 💪
Updates ▶ https://t.co/RTe7RlXDRq#TATAIPL | #SRHvPBKS | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/ANgdm1n86w
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 12, 2025
“It’s kind of crazy that you feel semi confident that you could chase 250,” captain Cummins said, adding a ringing endorsement of Abhishek’s talent. “I am a pretty big fan of Abhi.” The left-handed opener, for his part, gave credit to his mentor Yuvraj Singh as well as India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav for being in touch with him and assuring the tide will turn.
Sunrisers Hyderabad openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma in action during IPL 2025 match against Punjab Kings. (Sportzpics for IPL)
The records kept tumbling through the evening. First, he broke David Warner’s (126) record for the highest individual score for an SRH batter and then with a six against Yash Thakur, he also went past KL Rahul’s (132) record of the highest individual score as an Indian batter. Eventually, Arshdeep Singh would dismiss Abhishek, but by that time, the run-chase was under control. Henrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan completed the remaining demolition job.
Shreyas Iyer tees off
Shreyas Iyer in full flow can be quite brutal against the leg-spinners and Zeeshan Ansari would feel the wrath. Shreyas plundered 31 runs from the 13 balls he faced from the youngster. As soon as Shreyas saw the ball tossed up by Zeeshan he would not hesitate to hit it in the air and with his beautiful free swing of the bat, he scored a couple of teasing sixes to the fielders but also some majestic ones. While he scored 82 off 36 at a strike rate of 227.78, he didn’t seem to break much of a sweat. Off his 82 runs, 60 came off boundaries – six fours and sixes.
Shreyas’ partnership with Nehal Wadhera, a 40-ball 73, followed by Marcus Stoinis’ fireworks late on with four sixes off the last four balls, powered Punjab to their massive total. The captain’s innings came on the back of Punjab openers starting off in sensational fashion. Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh gave SRH’s bowlers a taste of their medicine by scoring 89 runs in the powerplay. Right from ball one, the batters went after both Mohammed Shami and Pat Cummins.
Shami’s forgettable night
Shami’s seam position is a thing of art. He might be the master in making the ball dance to his tunes in longer versions of the game but, this season at SRH, it has not been clicking for him. Against Punjab, he conceded 75 runs in his spell, the second most expensive in IPL history, behind Rajasthan Royals’ Jofra Archer, that was set only earlier this season.
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Prabhsimran started the onslaught by charging down the track to hit through mid-off for a boundary. While Pat Cummins also got taken for cleaners in his opening spell, he adapted to the conditions better than his Indian colleague. Shami continued to stick with his back-of-the-length deliveries and paid the price. The last over from Shami was pretty ordinary as Stoinis got hold of the lengths and slammed four consecutive deliveries to close out the innings. As it turned out however, Shami’s batting colleagues bailed him out with some sensational ball-striking.
Sloppy Punjab
While paying complete credit to SRH’s batting display, Shreyas had a smile on his face – a bit of awe at the ball-striking he witnessed but also a rueful tinge regarding his own side’s fielding lapses. It’s not like Punjab didn’t create chances but when they did, they failed to capitalise. The most telling mistake of the night was Impact Sub Yash Thakur’s massive blunder of overstepping, as Punjab’s celebrations were cut short after Abhishek was caught. Yuzvendra Chahal, who had another forgettable outing, dropped a skier off his own bowling to give another reprieve to Abhishek, while earlier in the innings, Stoinis could have done better at attacking a catch at mid. But as Shreyas admitted – for the second match in a row after praising Priyansh Arya’s ton against CSK not long back – they were at the receiving end of a “out of this world” century.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 245/6 (Shreyas Iyer 82, Harshal Patel 4/42) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 247/2 in 18.3 overs (Abhishek Sharma 141, Travis Head 66, Arshdeep Singh 1/37)