IPL 2024: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Lucknow Super Giants, 57th Match - Who Said What?

The strike rate is overrated. Well, that’s what KL Rahul said a couple of years back. He probably has changed his take on that after looking at Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma up close at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, in Hyderabad. The opening duo of Sunrisers Hyderabad defined modern-day T20 cricket and smashed the ball all across the park to pick up a massive victory over Lucknow Super Giants at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. The visitors had no clue with the bat and looked amateur with the ball, as SRH won the game by 10 wickets.

Batting first, Lucknow lost two early wickets of Quinton de Kock and Marcus Stoinis and following this, skipper KL Rahul played one of the slowest knocks in IPL history. Even though the pitch was a batter paradise, Rahul made 29 runs off 33 balls. Being a skipper, he should have led by example but the opener never looked comfortable and that put pressure on LSG. 

However, Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni took control of the situation and bailed LSG out of trouble. Badoni made 55* runs off 30 balls, while Pooran smashed 48* runs off 26 balls as LSG put 165 runs on the board in the first innings.

Even though it never looked enough but SRH made it look ridiculously small. Head and Abhishek smashed 107 runs in the powerplay and even after that, they didn’t stop and chased the total down in just 9.4 overs. Head hit 89* runs off 30 balls while Sharma smashed 75* runs off 28 deliveries as SRH picked up a massive win.

1. KL Rahul - The Villain

Villian may seem to be a harsh word but eventually, it turned out to be the bad guy. Being an opener, on that kind of pitch, Rahul should have played better cricket but the opener looked clueless. Having a strike rate of 87.88 is extremely poor and no team can afford that from their opener. Even in the second innings, when SRH were hitting boundaries for fun, he handed the ball to Ayush Badoni, which made little sense at that time. Overall, it was a tough day for KL Rahul.

2. Pooran, Badoni rescued LSG

Pooran and Badoni’s partnership of 99 runs rescued Lucknow. The other batters were extremely poor and just when it looked like LSG would not post a defendable total, Pooran and Badoni played some good cricket to put a respectable total on the board. Even though it wasn’t enough in the end but it surely saved LSG from a humiliating defeat.

3. Freak show of ridiculousness

Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma changed T20 cricket. It is now safe to say that. The openers once again smacked boundaries for fun and broke many records in the process. They looked flawless which later KL Rahul appreciated as well and if the duo keeps up with the momentum, they can very well challenge for the title.

Losing skipper KL Rahul said:

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. 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.

Winning skipper Pat Cummins said:

(On did he change the pitch) Maybe Travis and Abhishek did. We just let them go, they are two guys who are very positive and I'm a bowler, it is tough for me to give them any inputs. He's been like this for 2 years, he hits the tough areas, hits the middle a lot, might not be super conventional. Just an incredible player of spin and pace. With just 2 fielders out, it is really difficult for the bowlers against them. I think the scores have gone up, and when the wickets are good, it is tough to come up with answers against batters when they get going. The boys have had a fantastic season, but to win this with less than 10 overs played in unreal.

POTM Travis Head said:

Lot of fun today. Nice to get this done in 10 overs. Abhi and I have had a few partnerships like this. Just concentrate on getting in good positions, watch the ball hard and try to maximise the powerplay. It is something I have been working on, it will be a big part in the Caribbean as well. It is important to go 360 in the modern game. The last 12 months, that's how they wanted me to play in the Aussie team, and that's what I've been told to do here as well. Nothing much that I have to change. I know how hard he works and how deep he thinks, his spin play is second to none. We compliment each other very well. We didn't think about it till the Timeout, but after that the boys came out and told us to score quickly.