And that, my friends, is that! In the slot outside off, and butchered over extra cover. SRH have chased 166 inside 10 overs!
LSG vs SRH, 57th Match at Hyderabad, IPL, May 08 2024 - Ball by Ball Commentary
SRH won by 10 wickets (with 62 balls remaining)
10.26pm Well... got any plans for the rest of the evening? Still sunny in London so I'm off to give the dog a bonus walk... he'll be delighted, a diehard SRH fan is born!
A reminder of where that leaves the tournament standings... Sunrisers are back in the mood after a mid-tournament blip, and looking on course for a play-off berth thanks to that net-run rate boost. As for Lucknow, they need some luck now...
Thanks for joining us, that was remarkable viewing! From Miller, Ashish and Sudeep, good night!
Travis Head is the player of the match: A lot of fun, Abhi and I have had good partnerships. It was nice to get it done. Very very good fun. [What's changed] Just concentrating harder, trying to get into good positions. We got ahead of the rate and thought it was a great opportunity to maximise that. [Some of his shots vs spin] Something I have been working on with spin, something I have been working hard on. It will be a big part in the Caribbean. Nice to get 360 and get to the parts of the ground I have not been to. Dan and Pat have asked me to play that way. We want to maximise the powerplay. It is not going to work every time but we want to go for it. [On Abhishek] Beautiful for him to get a score. He missed out in the last few. His spin game is something else. We complement each other so well. [NRR being a factor?] We didn't think about it till the timeout. We have got ahead of the rate tonight which is good. [On the surface] Pick it up and take it everywhere. Nice to win at home. The crowd was exceptional tonight. A little break and we get into the last two. We start again, chasing has been tougher, but nice to get a win tonight.
Pat Cummins: [Changed the pitch midway?] Maybe Trav and Abhi did. [Openers] I just let them go. Two guys who are very positive about the game. It's hard to have some answers as a bowler, they have been fantastic. [On Head] He doesn't surprise me anymore. He has always been the guy who hits to tough areas. Might not be very conventional but gets the job done. [On Abhishek] Just an incredible player of spin but also pace. With only two fielders out, it is really tough to bowl to him. Real exuberance of youth. [What's changed with batters this year?] Just the par scores have gone up. When the wicket is really good, it is tough to come up against batters who are red-hot. [Expected that kind of birthday present?] Not to that extent. Super confident, we love playing here. To win none down and win like that was great.
Abhishek Sharma: "Thanks to the management for the faith they've shown in me, the environment is clear for the batters so I went to enjoy myself. All the credit to Travis, the way he starts, first two or three balls goes to the boundaries. So I just react to the ball. The bowlers told us it's getting better, me and Travis were saying it wasn't doing much, and they were short [in runs] so that was a plus-point. The hard work I put before the tournament is showing... it's going really well."
Impressive honesty from a shellshocked LSG captain, KL Rahul: "I'm lost for words. We've watched that batting on TV but that was unreal. Everything was hitting the middle of the bat, kudos to their skill, they've worked very hard on their six-hitting. They didn't give a chance to see what the wicket was playing like, it didn't change much, but that mindset and freedom to tee off from ball one... the only way to stop them was wickets in the powerplay and we didn't do that.
"Once you're on the losing side, always question marks but we thought it was a good decision to put runs on the board. Ayush and Nicholas fought well to put 166 on the board, but if we'd got 250 it seemed like they'd get it."
10.16pm Incredible scenes. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma have demolished this chase in barely 45 minutes. An extraordinary 148 of those runs came in the space of 30 boundary balls, 16 fours and 14 sixes. It's a bruising display from the most sensational batting line-up of this tournament. And the middle-order didn't get a look-in!
width outside off, and cut off the toe out to cover. A direct-hit would have been close... in the not-very-literal sense
wide line, flapped down to long-off, gets back for two
outside off, crashed up and into the off side, another single... Head needs 4, 4, 6...
Shankar: "With all due respect, Pat Cummins did promise "fireworks" during his interview as a loosing captain last match. "
tight on the back foot, tucked to the on-side, Abhishek keeps the strike, and probably ends any hope of Head winning it with a hundred...
This won't now be the final over...
pace off the ball, beaten as Abhishek swings a rare air-shot in the general direction of cow corner
Hruturaj: "Looks like someone slipped the Sunrisers Hyderabad a cheat sheet from the old EA Cricket game! I mean, are they playing with a secret controller combo or what? hitting boundaries as if they've got a cheat code for unlimited sixes! Someone needs to check their game settings"
slower ball, back of a length, on the pads, helped through fine leg. Remorseless!
swings into a pull to leg, not timed on this occasion but another single
Siva: "Nervous CSK fan calculating how much will be SRH's NRR"
Like pinging off the lid of a tin of treacle! Almost a perfect yorker, but out comes the bottom hand, levering the ball high over long-on again!
wiped off the good length, back over the bowler's head, mopped up at long-on
This could be the final over... no really...
effortless and magnificent! Looped onto the toes, but what an elegant pick-up! A flick of the back leg for emphasis as the ball sails over long-on again!
belted back at the bowler who drops a flying chance! Full length, whacked straight out of the screws. That saved another boundary
another stride into the good length, eased into the off side
punishment for that dot-ball! Head steps into the length, pivots around his kneeling back leg, and assaults the ball over deep midwicket again!
Decent delivery, skids across the left-hander, tight to the off stump and beats the edge
full length, pushed across Head's bows, and cracked off the back foot through deep point!
Akhil: "SRH proves to be the spicier in The Battle of Biryanis." Always preferred Dosas anyway
thumped with a roll of the wrists through the covers! Another boundary to end a leaky over of part-time offies
on the back foot, nudged to the on-side, another single
skips to the pitch, driven into the off side
Abhishek's turn for a fifty! Only 19 balls! Crushed into the upper deck once more, with a mighty launch through the line and over long-on!
fired into the legs, a high elbow from Head as he takes the single to mid-on
round the wicket, yanked across the line for another flat dismissive six!
Right, change of luck now for Lucknow? Don't bet on it. Here's Badoni...
Over 10 • SRH 167/0
SRH won by 10 wickets (with 62 balls remaining)