In what could be called a breakthrough innings for young Abhishek Sharma, the left-handed SRH batsman smashed a 16-ball half-century against Mumbai Indians on Wednesday evening. Thus, he broke SRH opener Travis Head’s record by 2 balls.
Playing in his first game of IPL 2024, Travis Head blasted an 18-ball half-century against MI at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. This was the fastest IPL fifty by an SRH batsman.
However, after about 22 minutes, Abhishek Sharma, aged 23, broke Head’s record as he reached the half-century landmark in only 16 balls.
Head and Abhishek utterly mauled the Mumbai Indians bowlers on the night. The pair recorded a thrilling partnership of 68 (23). After Head’s dismissal, Abhishek Sharma continued his assault and reached his fifty in 16 balls, which is now the fastest half-century record in the IPL for an SRH batsman.
Both the batters ended up with similar scores. Head scored 62 (24), having cracked 9 fours and 3 sixes. Sharma, though, dealt more in maximums. He hit 7 sixes and 3 fours in his knock of 63 (23) in what was proper carnage even after the powerplay overs.
Check out Twitter reaction on the fastest fifty by an SRH batsman record holder Abhishek Sharma:
Hardik won the toss and elected to bowl first. Both MI and SRH are coming off losses in their respective first matches, and both by very small margins. MI lost to Gujarat Titans by only 6 runs and SRH to KKR by only 4 runs.
Teams:
Sunrisers Hyderabad (Playing XI): Travis Head, Mayank Agarwal, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mayank Markande, Jaydev Unadkat
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Gerald Coetzee, Shams Mulani, Piyush Chawla, Jasprit Bumrah, Kwena Maphaka
Also Read: IPL 2024: “It’s A World Cup Year…” – Dinesh Karthik Wants To Make A Comeback For Team India
