IPL 2024: SRH captain Pat Cummins lauds Abhishek Sharma for fearless batting

The record books were rewritten as Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians dished out a humdinger at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday. Batting first, SRH scored a mammoth 277/3 in their 20 overs and restricted MI to 246/5 to win by 31 runs.

The match had seen everything - most runs in a T20 match (523), most sixes in an IPL game at 38 - which almost translates to one six every over, the highest score in the history of the IPL (277), the fastest 50 in an IPL game, and much more.

The Sunrisers batters went hammer and tongs right from the first ball, and the Mumbai Indians responded in favour. However, some tight bowling in the middle overs gave SRH the edge, and they prevailed in the end.

Speaking about the match, SRH captain Pat Cummins said sticking to their strategy and plans were most important in a slug-fest like this. Cummins bowled a couple of tight overs in the middle of the game (his figures read 4-0-35-2) that tilted the match in SRH’s favour. “You never play for 270, but we wanted to be really positive and with the Impact Player rule you have more batting as well. It’s obviously a good wicket, so you know you’re going to go for a few boundaries, but just have to stick to the plans. I think (bowling the) cutters worked,” he said at the post match presentation ceremony.

The Australian skipper lauded Abhishek Sharma for his fearless batting. The southpaw scored 63 off just 23 balls, with three fours and seven sixes, striking at an unbelievable rate of 273.91. In the process, Sharma broke the record of the fastest fifty for SRH by scoring his half-century in just 16 balls, breaking Travis Head’s record of 18 balls, set a few minutes earlier.

“He is really (an) impressive striker of the ball. In the IPL, you play under a lot of pressure, but the freedom he has played with was amazing,” Cummins said of Sharma.

Mumbai Indians’ skipper Hardik Pandya put on a brave face as his team succumbed to their second consecutive loss and lauded SRH for getting to 277. “The wicket was good but 277, no matter how good or bad you bowl, if the opposition gets to 277 that means they batted very well. It was tough out there. Close to 500 runs were scored, so the wicket was helping the batters,” Pandya said after Mumbai’s loss.

The Mumbai skipper said there were a few things that they could have tried and added if they change a few things in their plans, they’ll be alright. “We could have tried a few different things, but we have a young bowling attack and I liked what I saw today. Everyone batted really well, counting Tilak, Ro, Ishan. There are just a few things we need to do right and we’ll be alright,” he said.IPL 2024. SRH vs MI, Indian Premier League, Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, SRH news, SRH Updates