Sunrisers Hyderabad snapped a four-match losing streak in emphatic fashion by scripting the second-highest run chase in IPL history, gunning down 246 against the team that held the record hitherto. The chief architect of the win was the pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma as they finally made an impact this season.
On a Hyderabad featherbed, the left-handers ran amok, punishing Punjab Kings with the season’s highest partnership – 171 in just 12.2 overs – after Abhishek proved the beneficiary of two missed opportunities.
Yet to open his six account in this edition, Abhishek clobbered half-a-dozen on his way to a 40-ball century that swept PBKS off their feet. He celebrated the landmark with a special note: “This one is for the Orange Army.”
Abhishek’s maiden IPL ton – the highest score by an Indian in the tournament – took the limelight, but Harshal Patel’s 4/42 was equally instrumental, clipping the wings of PBKS towards the back end. It was only their second defeat of the season, but the injury to key pacer Lockie Ferguson made matters worse.
Travishek click
Coming off scores of 18, 2, 1, and 6, Abhishek blazed off the blocks with three consecutive fours off Marco Jansen in the second over of the chase. Head consigned to Arshdeep Singh to similar treatment, hitting shots all around the dial.
Abhishek was reprieved on 28 when Yash Thakur, who walked in as an Impact Sub for Nehal Wadhera, overstepped and had him caught at deep point. Abhishek capitalized on the free-hit to break the maximum jinx and get into a solid groove.
The alarm bells rang for PBKS when Ferguson trudged off clutching his hip two balls into his spell, and Yuzvendra Chahal putting down Abhishek off his own bowling on 57 added heft to the ominousness. Abhishek penalized the leggie with a six next ball, as SRH galloped to 100 by the eighth over.
𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐄: 🔛
🎥 Catch a glimpse of how Abhishek Sharma raced towards a record knock of an explosive 141 (55) 🧡🔥
Updates ▶ https://t.co/RTe7RlYbGY#TATAIPL | #SRHvPBKS | @SunRisers pic.twitter.com/8vjvkKYPMS
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 12, 2025
Having watched the carnage unfold from the other end, Head swatted Glenn Maxwell for back-to-back sixes as SRH were halfway through to their target inside the ninth over of their chase. Tempers flared as Maxwell let out a few not-so-pleasant words to Head, with Marcus Stoinis getting into the act as well.
No stopping the Abhishek assault
Among all the lusty blows Abhishek delivered, a helicopter shot off Marco Jansen took the cake. This bottom-handed six off an attempted yorker was a follow-up to a bumper which Abhishek pulled over deep square leg. He ended the over with successive fours, scooping and picking off length balls behind the wicketkeeper with ridiculous ease.
At the time PBKS earned a breakthrough, when Chahal had Head caught at long-on, the subdued celebration was indicative of their morale. Abhishek rustled up his century four balls later as the crowd went up on its feet to applaud an absolute masterclass in range-hitting.
Abhishek would add five more sixes to his kitty on the other side of the milestone, and when he eventually perished in the 17th over to Arshdeep, all involved clapped. Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan then finished proceedings with nine balls to spare.
Arya, Iyer lead PBKS charge
A 36-ball 82 from Shreyas Iyer and an early blitz from Priyansh Arya meant the joint-fastest half-century of the season that set up the game.
PBKS threatened to go big midway into the innings only to grossly underachieve as Harshal picked up the key wickets of Iyer and Maxwell in an excellent 18th over.
Then Stoinis, who had had a dud of a campaign so far with the bat, hit Mohammed Shami for four consecutive sixes in the final over as PBKS concluded their innings at 245/6. Shami’s figures were akin to a bloodbath: 4-0-75-0, his most expensive spell.
Generally introduced at the death, Harshal was summoned early to curb the run flow, and he struck in his very first over when he had Arya swing an off-cutter to the longer leg-side fence with Nitish Reddy accepting the skier at mid-on.
He went on to prove his mettle in the last six overs. In the 15th over, he foxed Shashank Singh with an off-cutter that pinned him in front in a nine-run over. Then in the slog overs, with PBKS looking to break free, he had Maxwell bowled thanks to a dipping slower ball that made a mockery of an attempt to reverse ramp, and then Iyer two balls later when he yet again took all the pace off the ball to have him chip one to point in trying to clear the infield.
In between Harshal’s exploits, Eshan Malinga, the Sri Lankan seamer, fared well on debut to pick up two wickets.
