As unfettered ball-striking becomes increasingly mainstream in Indian Premier League 2024, boundaries are turning into a more regular occurrence than the hard-earned runs sprinted between the wickets. But did you ever foresee a day when a 167-run innings would have more sixes than singles? Well, we just witnessed one. (As It Happened | Scorecard)
Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma scythed their way past Lucknow Super Giants' 166-run target, smashing 14 collective sixes while only running 12 singles in a marauding chase. This was not the first time the Sunrisers Hyderabad opening duo produced such pyrotechnics, and it is quite likely not the last either.
Head and Sharma demolished the target in 45 minutes flat, romping home in just 9.4 overs with an outlandish run rate of 17.27. Quite remarkably, 148 of the 167 runs they amassed came in the space of 30 boundary balls, 16 fours to go with the 14 maximums. And the pair did this all without even getting dismissed, showing how chillingly destructive they can be when things go their way.
In an innings that is a veritable highlights reel unto itself, Head and Sharma dispatched 30 of the 58 balls they faced to the fence. The end of the powerplay did not hinder the run-flow, as sixes rained like hail on a rainy evening.
Losing captain KL Rahul was equally taken aback with the onslaught. "I'm lost for words. We've watched that batting on TV but that was unreal. Everything was hitting the middle of the bat, kudos to their skill, they've worked very hard on their six-hitting.
"They didn't give a chance to see what the wicket was playing like, it didn't change much, but that mindset and freedom to tee off from ball one... the only way to stop them was wickets in the powerplay and we didn't do that," Rahul said after the match.
