Head and Sharma's electrifying opening stand earns Hyderabad 10
HYDERABAD, India (AP) — The opening pair of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma shared a massive 167-run stand as Sunrisers Hyderabad required just 58 balls to rout Lucknow Super Giants by 10 wickets in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.
Head and Sharma cranked 16 fours and 14 sixes in an extraordinary display of power-hitting in the first-ever IPL game that saw so many runs being scored inside the first 10 overs.
Head has been scoring consistently for the batting power-house of Hyderabad this season and raced to his half-century off 16 balls before he eventually finished on an unbeaten 89 off 30 balls.
Sharma followed the Australian left-hander soon when he reached his 50 off 19 balls as they raced to century-stand inside the batting power play. Sharma regained his lost touch with an undefeated 75 off 28 balls.
The win lifted Hyderabad to No. 3 with 14 points and more importantly gave it a healthy net run-rate of 0.41 with two home games to go. The huge defeat has pushed Lucknow in the tight corner for the playoffs with 12 points from 12 games.