MATCH STORIES
Follow Us37 from 12 balls
These are the kind of high-impact knocks that can pull the game away from the opposition in the blink of an eye. Sunil Narine did it against Bangalore a few new nights ago when his 22-ball 47 in a run chase of 183 made things easy for the rest of the Kolkata batters.
Abhishek Sharma, in Match 18, did something similar against the defending champions, Chennai Super Kings, but in a more compact and powerful way.
0, 1, 4, 0, 6, 0, 6, 6, 4, 6, 4, W
Sunrisers Hyderabad were chasing an underpar total. Abhishek carted the comeback seamer, Mukesh Chaudhary for 27 runs in the over, including a no ball. With three sixes and two fours, he leveled Yashasvi Jaiswal’s record of scoring the most runs off the bat in an opening over from either end. Within the first two overs, the required run rate had dropped by a run — from 8.3 to 7.3. He added another 10 runs off his next two balls before getting out.
CSK took the field in the second innings with the hopes of making early inroads and building pressure thereafter. Instead, they were hit by Abhishek’s early onslaught, which they were not prepared for. His knock was a knockout punch.
“If we had a good powerplay with the ball, we could have had the game,” said CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad after the defeat.
The Player of the Match in both the SRH wins this season, Abhishek said, “In the bowling, we felt it was a slow wicket. So we wanted to take the powerplay on.”
At 245.9, the 23-year old has the highest powerplay strike rate in this season. It has bumped from 134.5 last season. This year, he has mustered 91 runs in 37 balls, scoring 37 (12) vs CSK, 19* (7) vs GT, 8* (4) vs MI and 27* (14) vs KKR.
Abhishek had a stellar Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy for Punjab in 2023. He was the second-highest run-getter in the tournament, scoring 485 runs at an average of 48.5 while striking at 192.5. He batted all his 10 innings in the top three, like he is doing for SRH, and struck at 183.5 in the powerplay. Abhishek gained the first hand experience in the top-order basher’s role in SMAT and is mastering it in this IPL season.
He currently has the highest first 10-ball strike rate in the season. Travis Head is another Orange Army representative in the top four. Abhishek was batting at three with Head’s entry in the XI. Now, with Mayank Agarwal not playing this fixture, SRH paired two high-intent batters of the highest order. After their instant success, SRH might persist with this move, which can turn out to be the most destructive opening pair of the season, especially given their home conditions at the Uppal.
“Head is one of my favourite batters, I really admire his batting. Had a great time batting with him,” said Abhishek after a 68-run stand with Head in the 277 game. Given how Abhishek has adopted into the Aussie opener’s style, this is like an opening pair between Travis Head and the Indian Travis Head.
While many youngsters have played for India in the shortest format, Abhishek hasn’t played international cricket yet. But he is the perfect prototype of the kind of batter India need at the top and may head towards them in the future.
The high-intent batters who can make a quick impact and provide a headstart in the powerplay.
