28 March (Punjab Khabarnama) : Just how fast the night changes. Two days after a video of Hardik Pandya telling Rohit Sharma where to field, then sending him to the boundary went viral, the tables turned Wednesday evening. Under the pump due to Sunrisers Hyderabad’s marauding assault as MI picked themselves up, in between overs, Rohit, the ex-captain took over. While Hardik was still the captain of course, for a moment there, Rohit was the one making calls, setting the field and having a chat with the bowlers just like the old days as Hardik ran out of ideas.
As SRH blasted 81 in the Powerplay and Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma made it rain sixes at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Rohit took matters into his own hands. A throwback to the last 11 seasons, MI donned the captaincy hat and made some changes in the field – including making Hardik go running to the boundary. The video captured is the perfect role reversal as MI ran for cover against Head and Sharma’s onslaught.
What a game it was though. Over 500 runs scored – the most in any T20 match, and 38 sixes hit – also a record. The highest team total in an IPL match, a record that stood tall for 11 years in the name of Royal Challengers Bengaluru, was breached and rather comfortable as SRH pummelled 277/3. MI responded with the highest IPL total in a chase but it clearly wasn’t enough and the five-time champions fell short by 31 runs, finishing with 246/5.
VIDEO: Rohit Sharma sets the field, asks Hardik Pandya to go to the boundary
Head and Sharma took 19 and 17 balls respectively to slam fifties. Head was the first to get there, owning the record for the fastest fifty by an SRH batter. But it remained intact only for a few overs as Sharma soon bettered it by a ball. The pitch at Uppal was certainly one that assisted batters and was ideal to bat on, but no one expected this kind of carnage to unfold. By the halfway stage of the innings, SRH were rocketing away at 148/1 – also the highest IPL score at the end of 10 overs. It was pandemonium. One that blew MI away.
SRH’s batting was the closest the world came to experiencing a repeat of the tsunami Chris Gayle had unleashed at the Chinnaswamy in 2013. People on cricket websites, entrusted with the responsibility of providing live updates of the match, ran out of ideas on what to write, how to write the next post as literally every second ball was carted away for six. Last evening was the same. The only difference in these two games 11 years apart is that back then, it was a one-man show, while yesterday, all SRH batters had fun at the expense of MI.
A 24-ball 62 from Head to start the beating, a 23-ball 63 from Sharma to keep the scoreboard ticking after his partner had fallen and in the end, Heinrich Klaasen’s unbeaten 80 off 34 that ended SRH up with a record total. Such was the demolition that no one’s even talking about Aiden Markram’s 42 not out off 28 at a strike-rate of 150. Absolutely bonkers.
Props to MI for attempting to chase this down as they came out all guns blazing. Their fifty was raised in three overs with Ishan Kishan and Rohit going hammer and tongs. Ishan was brutal on Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he bludgeoned the veteran India seamer with a hat-trick of sixes. Even as both openers fell, MI sustained the pace thanks to Tilak Varma’s belligerent hitting. He too hammered three consecutive sixes – off Shahbaz Ahmed – and brought up a half-century off 24 balls.
But the pressure of the asking rate was simply too much. Naman Dhir did his bit with 30 off 14 balls before Tilak was joined by Pandya. However, after starting well with a six and a four, Hardik slowed down, and Tilak perished. Tim David tried with 42 not out off 22 balls but to no avail.
