Being given the freedom to "go out and express" was the key factor in Sunrisers Hyderabad's record-shattering batting performance against Mumbai Indians, said the home side's batter Abhishek Sharma. (More Cricket News)
Records tumbled as SRH batters went on the rampage against Mumbai Indians to post the highest IPL total of 277 for 3 and then winning the match by 31 runs on Wednesday night.
It was scintillating exhibition of power-hitting from SRH opener Travis Head (62 off 24) and number three Sharma (63 off 23) with the latter registering his team's record for the fastest fifty in IPL.
Heinrich Klaasen (80 not out off 34 balls) provided the fireworks towards the end to help SRH break an 11-year-old record. The previous highest total in IPL was 263 for 5 scored by Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013.
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"To be honest I didn't realise that it was the fastest fifty for SRH and for this year. I just wanted to go and express myself and after getting out I realised that it was the quickest. I enjoyed it," said 'Man of the Match' Sharma.
"I think the message was pretty much simple for all the batters in the meeting we had before this match. 'Everyone just go and express yourself'. That's a very positive message if you get it from your captain and coach. That's really supportive for all the batters."
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Sharma and Head stitched 68 runs off just 22 balls for the second wicket for SRH.
"I was batting with Travis and he is one of my favorite batters. I really enjoyed batting with him," Sharma said.
Sharma said despite putting a mammoth total on the board, it wasn't a cakewalk for SRH as MI came pretty close.
Tilak Varma (64 off 34 balls) took the game deep with a high-quality knock, comprising half-a-dozen sixes and, towards the end, Tim David (42 not out off 22) tried his best but it was not enough.
"When Tilak Varma, Hardik bhai and even Tim David were batting, we were still a bit, I won't say worried but concerned. The way they were playing it was very good but we knew our bowlers were very much prepared for this kind of situation and they executed really well," Sharma said.
David said at the halfway stage they were positive about chasing down the target and eventually came pretty close.
"It would have been pretty good as a spectator if you are sitting home or in the stands it was very entertaining, amazing match.
"We believe in our batting unit. We chased some high scores last year. The talk was let's just stick to our process and we were keeping up with the rate at a certain point of time. Although we didn't get the runs it was a great batting performance from us too," he said.
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The Australian, however, credited SRH for their all-round show.
"Credit to SRH, they bowled pretty well at the end, took the pace of the ball on a slowing pitch, it was pretty hard to hit. But everything has to go right if you are to chase 278, that didn't quite happen but we got pretty close," David said.
"They played some amazing shots, credit to their batsmen for putting the pressure on any bowler. There is nothing much you can do to stop them if they play good shots. You got to take (your) hat off when someone plays well."
