The 57th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) ended at 10:16 PM IST on Wednesday (May 8) courtesy Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma. The duo showed off their six-hitting skills against LSG chasing down the target of 166 runs in just 9.4 overs. LSG skipper KL Rahul tried five bowling options during this period but couldn't pick a single wicket as SRH romped in a crucial clash.
The Head-Abhishek duo slammed 16 fours and a staggering 14 sixes in the partnership of 58 balls to leave the Super Giants reeling defending the total which many felt was competitive. After the match, Rahul admitted that he felt helpless as they didn't give a chance for LSG to make a comeback in the contest. However, in this case, the visitors have themselves to blame for as they dropped Abhishek twice in the innings. But even then, his dismissal wouldn't have made much difference in the game.
"Am lost for words. We have watched that kind of batting on tv. But this is unreal batting. Everything seemed to find the middle of the bat. Kudos to their skills. They have worked hard on their six hitting skills. They didn't give us a chance to know what the pitch played in the second innings. Was hard to stop them as they teed off from ball one," Rahul said after the match.
Moreover, the LSG skipper's decision to bat first is also being questioned now as the batters found it a little tough to get going on what seemed like a slow surface to start with. But despite not being any dew, the way SRH openers batters, the surface was certainly a belter. Responding to the decision at the toss, Rahul backed his decision but admitted they were around 50 runs short at the halfway mark.
"Once you are on the losing side, there are questions marks on the decisions taken. We were 40-50 runs short. When we lost wickets in the powerplay, we couldn't get any momentum. Ayush and Nicky batted well to get us to 166. But even if we would have got 240, they could have chased it as well," the LSG captain added.
