Game, set, match: SRH
Sunrisers Hyderabad have ended a four-match losing streak in style by pulling off the second-highest run chase in IPL history, effortlessly chasing 246 against the team that holds the record. The win was made possible by Travishek, who finally clicked this season.
On a Hyderabad pitch back to its batting-friendly best after last week's turner against Gujarat Titans, Abhishek and Head capitalised, punishing Punjab Kings with the season's highest partnership - 171 in just 12.2 overs - after two missed chances off Abhishek.
The left-hander, previously without a six this season, smashed six on his way to a 40-ball century that floored PBKS. He then added a few more after celebrating his landmark with a note: “This one is for the Orange Army.”
Abhishek’s maiden IPL century stole the spotlight, but Harshal Patel’s 4 for 42 was just as crucial, helping cut PBKS short by at least 20 runs from what they seemed set to score. It was only their second loss of the season, made worse by a suspected hamstring injury to key pacer Lockie Ferguson.
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Abhishek marches on
He surpasses KL Rahul's 132 to now own the record for the highest score by an Indian batter in the IPL.
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Abhishek is back
A 171-run partnership off just 12.2 overs comes to an end with Head holing out to long-on off Chahal, but Abhishek raises a 40-ball century, and celebrate it by pulling out a piece of white paper from his pocket and showing it towards his applauding teammates. "This one is for the Orange Army", he says. It's his first IPL century.
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For the first time in just the 12th over.
Abhishek is one blow away from a century.
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3 Number of times Abhishek has a fifty in under 20 balls. Only Nicholas Pooran has done it (one more) than Abhishek, who is second on the list with Jake Fraser-McGurk and Travis Head.
Head's half-century tonight, off 31 balls, seems a tad slow. But it's been the ice to Abhishek's fire.
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Jansen gets the treatment
Against his former team, Jansen's travelling as Abhishek gets stuck into him.
Two back-to-back sixes - a pull over deep square, and then a bottom-handed whip to send the ball into the top tier over deep midwicket.
Abhishek has flicked on beast mode. Cheat code. Whatever you can call it.
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Abhishek gets another life
Chahal creates the chance off his very first ball, but can't grab the miscued heave as the ball swirls away.SRH 94/0 in 7.1 with Abhishek on 57.
And Abhishek immediately lays into Chahal off the very next delivery he faces, depositing the short ball over deep midwicket. 100 up in the 8th.
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19 Number of deliveries taken by Abhishek to bring up his half-century, his first of the season
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Lockie injured?
Two balls into his first over, the sixth, he's on the ground clutching his left hamstring. This is a massive moment in the game. It could potentially leave PBKS a bowler short, leaving Shreyas to search for options. Unless he's willing to use Yuzi Chahal against the left-handers. There's been a great reluctance so far this season. Stoinis will complete the over.
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Stop the celebration!
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Impact Sub Yash Thakur thinks he's come back superbly after he's picked for a four and six by Abhishek.
He bowls full, away from Abhishek's hitting arc and has him slice a catch to Shashank Singh at deep point on 28, only to hear the no-ball siren go off, and it's a big no-ball at that.
Abhishek, who hadn't hit a six in the tournament until today, flicks the free-hit over deep midwicket as Iyer helplessly look on. This has been a sterling reply to a daunting run chase.
SRH 60/0 in 4 overs
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Head follows suit
If Abhishek took down Jansen's first over with three successive fours, Head does the same in Arshdeep's second over. And each of those three fours are to a different pocket.
The first is flayed through point. Arshdeep them seemingly tries to bowl into the body, only to see Head get inside the line and play a one-leg whip. And then when he decides to go full, Head clears his front leg and wallops him over mid-off.
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Abishek lays down the marker
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SRH are up and away - 28/0 in two overs, with Abhishek finishing the over with three consecutive fours.
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Peerless Iyer, fearless Arya set PBKS up
A 32-ball 86 from Shreyas Iyer and an early turbocharge from Priyansh Arya that help raise the joint-fastest half-century of the season were the key drivers in another dominating batting performance from Punjab Kings against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Uppal.
PBKS threatened to blaze past 250 halfway into the innings, but then appeared to fall well short of that mark as Harshal Patel picked up the big wickets of Shreyas and Glenn Maxwell in a gun 18th over - he finished with 4 for 42.
Then Marcus Stoinis, who hadn’t made much of an impact with the bat until today, got stuck into Mohammed Shami, hitting him for four consecutive sixes in the final over that went for 27 as PBKS finished with 245 for 6.
Shami’s figures read a forgettable 4-0-75-0. This meant SRH need to pull off the second-highest run chase in IPL history to break their sequence of four straight losses in IPL 2025.
PBKS raised their fifty in just three overs - the joint-fastest with RCB at IPL 2025 - courtesy the openers. Prabhsimran hit Shami for three back-to-back four in his first over, and Arya followed suit when he nonchalantly flicked Cummins for six in his first.
Harshal, generally used at the death, was brought on early to try and stem the run flow, and he delivered in his very first over, the fourth, when he had Arya hack an off-cutters to the longer leg-side boundary with Nitish Reddy taking the skier at mid-on.
At the other end, Eshan Malinga gave a good account of himself on IPL debut, picking up an early wicket by removing Prabhsimran, shortly after he was dropped by Abhishek Sharma at extra cover on 38.
Eshan showed versatility in bowling 140 clicks, and marrying pace with slower variation and a yorker-length deliveries to Iyer, who looked in imperious form - pulling, cutting and hitting spinners on the rise and clearing the boundaries effortlessly.
Iyer brought up a 22-ball 50 when he scythed Shami to the third man boundary, his fastest in the IPL before he went into overdrive. He shouldn't have been around to get there, but was reprieved on 42 when legspinner Zeeshan Ansari was unlucky to not have him caught at long-off. Abhishek misjudged a catch as he ran in a bit too far, before having to back track and palm the ball over.
A bulk of his runs came during the course of a 76-run stand off just 40 balls with Nehal Wadhera, who used the arcs behind square to good effect in hitting 27, before he was lbw to Malinga who ended waywardly - finishing with 2 for 45 after Iyer picked him for three consecutive boundaries.
Shashank Singh’s promotion ahead of a struggling Maxwell didn’t pay off either as Harshal had him lbw, before Maxwell and Iyer also fell in his final over. Just as SRH began to wrest momentum back, Stoinis unleashed himself by musclingfour sixes off the last four balls to give them the momentum they seemed to have lost at the death.
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Sixy Stoinis
Stoinis, who hadn't made a mark with the bat so far this season, finishes the innings with four consecutive sixes as PBKS make 245. Mohammed Shami finishes with figures of 4-0-75-0, with his final over disappearing for 27.
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Harshal's gun final over
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Gold dust. To concede just give, while picking up the wickets of Glenn Maxwell & Shreyas Iyer. Coming as it does, on the back of an expensive 18-run over off Malinga, makes it that much more significant. PBKS 210/6 with two overs to play. Harshal finishes with 4 for 42.
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Maxwell's early struggle
Maxwell's early struggles, especially against Zeeshan Ansari's leg spin, underlines why perhaps Ponting preferred to send in Shashank Singh ahead of him. But that move didn't work tonight as he went too far across the stumps to pick Harshal into the leg side, only to be trapped lbw. Maxwell's currently on 2 off 5 with four overs left. Can PBKS get 250? They're currently 187/4.
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Malinga, like the OG
Eshan Malinga has his second wicket, and it's a massive one.
A full, fast, straight delivery. Gets it to tail late and strikes Nehal Wadhera near the boot. And he's plumb in front of the stumps in trying to use the angle and ramp it behind.
A dangerous 73-run stand off just 40 balls has been broken.
Wadhera didn't review. If he had, he would've survived as ball tracking suggests this would've missed off.
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Shreyas v spin
Zeeshan Ansari slips in two quiet, boundary-less overs, but can't escape punishment in his third as Shreyas Iyer takes him on.
The six is off a golfer's swing - staying deep inside the crease and launching him over long-off on the rise. The boundary is off a reverse sweep to a full toss.
Zeeshan continues to bravely toss the ball up and creates an opportunity in the same over when Iyer mistimes him, but the long-off fielder palms the ball over the ropes. Abhishek Sharma isn't having a good day on the field - a second dropped chance. He made the mistake of rushing in a tad early, and then back-track.
Ansari's figures should've read: 3-0-25-1.
Instead, it currently reads: 3-0-31-0.
Instead, it currently reads: 3-0-31-0.
22 Balls taken by Shreyas to get to his half-century. It's his fastest in the IPL
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Malinga: A wicket in his first, sixes in his second
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Early impression on Malinga: He has clocked 141kph, bowled a 120kph slower ball, has slipped in a high full toss in trying to attempt a dipping slower delivery, has tried to bang the ball into the pitch - he's clearly no afraid to try different things. His figures currently read 2-0-19-1.
Prabhsimran can't cash in on reprieve
Harshal creates a second opportunity, but it's grassed at extra cover as Abhishek Sharma can't hold on as he moved to his right. It was absolutely smashed by Prabhsimran as he held his shape to an off-cutter again. But he can't cash in on his reprieve - he's out in similar fashion, slapping a slower length ball straight to Cummins at mid-off for 42 as Eshan Malinga strikes in his first over on IPL debut.
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PBKS: fast, but not fastest
89 It's only the third-highest powerplay score this season. SRH made 94 in their opening game v RR and KKR made 90 against LSG earlier in the week
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Harshal strikes for Sunrisers!
He's mercilessly tonked down the ground for six, but comes back superbly by pulling length back and delivering a cutter, forcing Arya to try and hit against the movement to the longer leg-side boundary. He ends up dragging it to Nitish Reddy at mid-off. PBKS 66/1 in four overs.
PBKS brought up the joint-fastest team fifty this season, along with RCB who got to the landmark off just 18 balls two nights ago against DC at Chinnaswamy.
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Arya climbs into Shami
It's likely Arya is up against Shami for the first time too. And what does he do first ball? Swat him down the ground for a six. And follows that by flaying him over the cover boundary second ball. Arya doesn't have a great deal of feet movement, but if you can have that kind of hand-eye coordination and timing, it doesn't matter. PBKS bring up 50 in just the third over.
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Fearless Arya walks the talk
A rookie straight out of the Delhi Premier League, facing up to a modern-day great for the first time, welcomes him to the bowling crease with a nonchalant flick of the wrists to send the ball into the top tier over deep midwicket. PBKS 30/0 in two overs.
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Prabhsimran takes the attack to Shami
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A roaring start to the first over - all boundaries in the arc between mid-off and cover. On each occasion, Prabhsimran gave Shami the charge.
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'Getting out on a zero is not a big deal'
Priyansh Arya, who hit the fastest IPL hundred by an uncapped Indian batter, earlier in the week against Chennai Super Kings, brings with him a refreshing perspective and lot of clarity. Ashish Pant caught up with the 24-year-old from Delhi, who has had a sensational initiation into the IPL after being one of the breakout stars of the Delhi Premier League.
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'Bowling first not a problem' for Pat Cummins
Shreyas Iyer called correctly as an unchanged Punjab Kings elected to bat in Uppal.
"The mindset has been to be aggressive from ball one," he said. "We've seen that we don't have a fantastic record in the powerplay, we have to see to it that we don't have that at the back of the mind and play the ball on the merit."
"We just need to stay in the present, be brave and bold with our approach and our attitude has to be top-notch. We have a fantastic few matches recently and need to repeat that."
PBKS are sitting pretty with three wins in four games. SRH are seeking to overturn a string of four straight losses after opening the tournament with 286, the second-highest T20 total of all time.
Fresh off a four-day break, SRH have handed a debut to Eshan Malinga in place of ambidextrous allrounder Kamindu Mendis. A death bowler, like the OG Malinga, Eshan made his ODI debut for Sri Lanka earlier this year, and also impressed for Paarl Royals at the SA20.
"We feel like we can chase down anything," Cummins said. "It's not been an ideal start but we're training well and are in a good place. We try and de-stress, but it's a long season. Things can turn quickly in T20s."
Playing XIIs
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan, 4 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen (wk), 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Eshan Malinga, 8 Pat Cummins (capt), 9 Zeeshan Ansari, 10 Harshal Patel, 11 Mohammed Shami
SRH Impact player options: Abhinav Manohar, Sachin Baby, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Chahar, Wiaan Mulder
Punjab Kings: 1 Prabhsimran Singh (wk), 2 Priyansh Arya, 3 Shreyas Iyer (capt), 4 Nehal Wadhera, 5 Shashank Singh, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Marcus Stoinis, 8 Marco Jansen, 9 Yuzvendra Chahal, 10 Arshdeep Singh, 11 Lockie Ferguson
Punjab Kings impact player options: Suryansh Shegde, Pravin Dubey, Yash Thakur, Harpreet Brar, Vijaykumar Vyshak
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It's No. 5 v No. 10
After a near record-breaking start, Sunrisers Hyderabad have lost four games back-to-back. Yet, unlike Chennai Super Kings, woefully short on batting firepower, SRH have the game and the personnel to turn it around. They're up against Punjab Kings, capable of being as explosive as them, and buoyed by a roaring start to IPL 2025.
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