Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) shattered records with the bat after Mumbai Indians opted to bowl first in Hyderabad on Wednesday (March 27). The men in orange witnessed carnage led by ever aggressive Travis Head and the number three batter Abhishek Sharma who broke records at will helping SRH post 148 runs in their first 10 overs.
While Head scored 62 runs off just 24 balls at a strike-rate of 258.33, Abhishek smacked 63 off 23 deliveries striking at 273.91. The former was the one who took charge first smashing an 18-ball fifty, fastest ever for SRH in their history. However, within four overs, Abhishek Sharma broke the recod registering a 16-ball half-century leaving the fans stunned with his strokeplay.
Both of them reached their half-century in less than 20 balls to become the first pair of batters to reach the 50-run mark in less than the said number of deliveries for the same team in an IPL match. No batters had achieved this unique feat before even as the Sunrisers also posted the highest team total at the end of 10 overs of their innings - 148. Mumbai Indians held the record previously having amassed 141 runs in their 10 overs.
MI must have hoped for some respite after both Head and Sharma were dismissed but Heinrich Klaasen came out and piled on the agony on them smashing an unbeaten 80 off 34 balls. He hit seven gigantic sixes during his stay in the middle helping SRH post the highest ever total in IPL - 277/2. In response, even Mumbai Indians chased down the target brilliantly getting ever so close and losing by 31 runs. They scored 246 runs in their 20 overs and at one stage, the target even looked achievable. But SRH bowlers executed their plans well at the death to keep the MI batters on the backfoot.
