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regular-article-logo Monday, 29 April 2024

Karthik leads brave chase but bowling frailty sinks RCB as Sunrisers reset highest total 

Head slammed 102 off 41 balls and Klaasen made 67 off 31 as Sunrisers Hyderabad rewrote the IPL record books

Our Bureau Calcutta Published 16.04.24, 07:41 AM
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head during his blistering innings of 102 off 41 balls in Bengaluru on Monday

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Travis Head during his blistering innings of 102 off 41 balls in Bengaluru on Monday PTI Photo

Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen provided a sneak peek into the modern-day T20 batting with an exhilarating exhibition of power-hitting at the Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru on Monday.

Head slammed 102 off 41 balls and Klaasen made 67 off 31 as Sunrisers Hyderabad rewrote the IPL record books. Their total of 287/3 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru is the highest in IPL eclipsing their own 277/3 versus Mumbai Indians at their home ground earlier in the tournament.

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RCB put up a thrilling chase only to fall short by 25 runs in the end. The openers set it up nicely for the home team before Dinesh Karthik provided the entertainment with 82 off 35 ball with seven sixes and five boundaries.

RCB bettered Sunrisers’ Powerplay score with 79 by their own openers. Virat Kohli set the ball rolling and ended the first six overs with a straight six off Pat Cummins. His 42 off 19 balls included six fours and two sixes.

After RCB’s No. 3-5 batters departed for 7, 9 and 0 respectively, Karthik provided the entertainment to keep them in the hunt. He added 59 with Mahipal Lomror, out of which the latter contributed only 19.

RCB lost four wickets in the space of 13 legitimate deliveries. Two of them went to Cummins, including Faf du Plessis for 62, and Saurav Chauhan for a duck in the tenth over. RCB were reduced to 122 for 5 but Karthik then got into the act.

He regularly placed the ball over the infield and was merciless on the pacers, including Cummins, whom he hit for two sixes in his last over.

But it was Head’s day. Australia’s hero in the final of the ODI World Cup in Ahmedabad cracked nine boundaries and eight sixes to virtually end RCB’s chances in the match. This was his maiden T20 hundred. Sunrirsers’ 22 sixes are the most in an IPL innings. Back in 2013, Chris Gayle had cracked 17 sixes out of RCB’s 21 which had so far been the record.

He added 108 off 49 balls with Abhishek Sharma (34 off 22b) and 57 off 26 with Klaasen for the second wicket as the RCB struggled to keep them in check on a wicket where the ball came on to the bat nicely.

The 30-year-old displayed that chilling efficiency against RCB pacers Reece Topley and Lockie Ferguson, who walked in for an out-of-form Glenn Maxwell.

But Ferguson’s first over was an eminently forgettable one, conceding 18 runs. He slanted one to Head’s pads and it was flicked over square leg for a six.

Both Head and Sharma were devastating in the Powerplay, accumulating 76 without loss.

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