Head and Abhishek, the brothers of (powerplay) destruction

Have you played video games? If yes, you must relate to the agonizing pain when you have to watch someone else play it and wait for your chance. 

However, there was no agony but only disbelief when Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma were having a live simulation of EA Cricket against Delhi Capitals in Match 35. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad were 125/0 in the powerplay. 

EA Cricket is the only way to describe the powerplay madness from Head and Abhishek. Such was the inevitability about it — the record for the highest powerplay score by any team in the history of T20 cricket. 

The opening duo smashed 11 sixes and 13 fours without getting separated within those 36 balls. 

19 off the first over

21 off the second

22 off the third

21 off the fourth

20 off the fifth

22 off the sixth

Each over only escalated the hopes of seeing the 300-run barrier breached tonight (April 20) by the franchise that scaled the highest team score in IPL (277) and then bettered it by 10 runs. After all, when SRH hammered RCB for 287, their score at the end of the powerplay was only 76/0. 

Here, they mounted almost 50 runs more. Head was nearing a hundred (84 off 26 balls), having completed his fifty from only 16 balls, leveling Abhishek’s record for the fastest IPL fifty for SRH. Abhishek, meanwhile, was 40 off 10, looking set to break it again, as he did against Mumbai Indians. 

Head took care of the pacers in the phase, scoring 59 off 17 balls. No length was safe against him as Head bashed at a strike rate of 200 or above in every zone. 

When the spinners came on, Abhishek took the onus, scoring 36 off nine balls against Kuldeep Yadav and Lalit Yadav. The left-hander, known for his boastful record against renowned spinners in IPL, hammered Kuldeep for three sixes off the four balls he faced in the sixth over. Kuldeep can take the pitch out of the equation with his prodigious turn but Abhishek took the turn out of the equation by stepping down.

Delhi eventually came back in the game through their spinners, keeping SRH to 266. But Head and Abhishek are elevating powerplay batting to a new level. In four matches opening together, they have scored 312 runs at a strike rate of 253.7, and twice they have been unseparated in the first six overs. 

The template for a good opening stand has been clubbing an attacking batter with someone who can hold his ground at the other end. SRH have two hard-hitters at the top at the peak of their form. Given Abhishek’s adulation for Head, they have the same batters at both ends. 

“Head is one of my favourite batters, I really admire his batting. Had a great time batting with him,” Abhishek said after a 68-run stand with Head in the 277 game. 

Kolkata Knight Riders are another side with two big-hitters at the top — Phil Salt and Sunil Narine. But even for them, the strike rate is 194.4, an excellent number but nowhere near Head and Abhishek’s mayhem. 

In an IPL season where batters have dominated bowlers as if they are practising range-hitting against bowling machines, Head and Abhishek are still keeping the ceiling too high for others to touch. 

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