Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Abhishek Sharma plays a shot during the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket match against Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on March 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

Abhishek Sharma, who scored the fastest-ever 50, off just 16 balls, for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday, said the message was simple from his captain Pat Cummins and coach Daniel Vettori — just express yourself when you go out to bat.

“Getting that message from the captain and coach is very supportive for the batters. I enjoyed batting with Travis (Head), one of my favourites,” said Abhishek after Sunrisers beat Mumbai Indians by 31 runs. “To be honest, I didn’t realise it was the fastest 50 for SRH. I enjoyed it.”

Abhishek said he was not surprised by the decision to put Hyderabad in to bat. “We were prepared to bat first the day before the match itself.”

“When Tilak (Varma) and Hardik (Pandya) bhai and even Tim David were batting, we were still a bit concerned given the way they were playing. But, somehow, I believe that our bowlers were very well prepared for this kind of a situation,” he said.

David lauds SRH’s effort

Tim David complimented the SRH bowlers for the way they bowled towards the end by taking the pace off the pitch.

“Well, they (SRH) played some amazing shots, nothing much we could do. We had our chances like me missing one (Head). But, you got to take off your hat to someone who plays so well,” said David.

Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya and his Sunrisers Hyderabad counterpart Pat Cummins will look to come back to winning ways after their team’s opening defeats in the Indian Premier League 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Mumbai Indians will aim to land the killer punch after fluffing an easy run-chase in their opener when they meet a dangerous Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League in Hyderabad on March 27.

Five-time champions MI had a lot going for them in their tournament opener against the Gujarat Titans, whether it was the incisive spells from pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Dewald Brevis’ impactful knock or Rohit Sharma’s fireworks at the top of the order.

But MI, who have built a reputation of slow starters over the years, could not manage 48 runs off 36 balls with seven wickets in hand. With the 10-team event being more competitive than ever before, Mumbai cannot afford more such lackadaisical performances going forward.

In his first game as Mumbai captain, Hardik pushed himself down the order at number seven to accommodate the likes of Tim David and Brevis higher up.

Considering he batted much higher for the Gujarat Titans last year, there is a case for him to bat higher up the order.

Opener Ishan Kishan, back to action after a long break, could only last four balls against GT. With the T20 World Cup in mind, his performances will be tracked closely and have added significance. He needs to be at his best with the bat and behind the stumps to make the national squad.

Hardik will also be expecting an improved performance from spinners Shams Mulani and Piyush Chawla.

They face SRH on their home turf and the Pat Cummins-led side showed against Kolkata Knight Riders what they are capable of.

The big-hitting Heinrich Klaasen almost got them over the line from a hopeless situation though the rest of the batters put up below par performances.

The opening duo of Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma has shown promise but would also need to be consistent if SRH are to do well in the competition.

SRH have invested heavily in pinch hitter Abdul Samad and it is high time he delivers on the promise.

The seasoned Bhuvneshwar Kumar was Andre “Russelled” on Saturday night and will look to bounce back strongly.

“Tough job in cricket to bowl to someone like him (Russell). It’s one of those ones which goes one way or the other. Who would have thought we would have got that close? Unfortunately, a bit too much. Lots to be encouraged by. A couple of points to work on also,” Cummins said after the narrow loss at Eden Gardens.

Squads:

Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Rohit Sharma, Dewald Brevis, Jasprit Bumrah, Piyush Chawla, Gerald Coetzee, Tim David, Shreyas Gopal, Ishan Kishan, Anshul Kamboj, Kumar Kartikeya, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Mohammad Nabi, Shams Mulani, Naman Dhir, Shivalik Sharma, Romario Shepherd, Arjun Tendulkar, Nuwan Thushara, Tilak Varma, Vishnu Vinod, Nehal Wadhera, Luke Wood, Suryakumar Yadav.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (c), Abdul Samad, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Travis Head, Wanindu Hasaranga, Marco Jansen, Rahul Tripathi, Washington Sundar, Glenn Phillips, Sanvir Singh, Heinrich Klaasen, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Agarwal, T. Natarajan, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Upendra Singh Yadav, Umran Malik, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shahbaz Ahmed, Jaydev Unadkat, Akash Singh, Jhathavedh Subramanyan.

Match starts 7.30PM IST.