Returning to the IPL after 7 years, Travis Head blasted an 18-ball half-century against Mumbai Indians while opening for SRH on Wednesday night.
Australia WTC Final and World Cup 2023 hero Travis Head was bought for INR 6.8 crore by SRH in the IPL 2024 auction in December. Head’s last IPL tournament was way back in 2017. But his sensational form across formats fetched him a hefty amount in the IPL auction, and was drafted in as an opener in the second game of the franchise, replacing Marco Jansen and pushing down Abhishek Sharma.
Travis Head needed no fighters and straightaway attacked MI. He hit his first ball for a four. He was dropped at mid-off by Tim David, but from thereon, the left-handed Aussie simply maulted the Mumbai Indians bowling attack.
In the third over of the innings, he smoked Kwena Maphaka for two sixes and two fours. In the fourth, he played two balls from Bumrah and took a single, and then resumed his onslaught. He hit a hat-trick of boundaries to Hardik Pandya before taking down Gerald Coetzee with two fours and a six.
Travis Head reached half-century in only 18 balls, which became the record for the fastest IPL fifty by an SRH batsman. The record, however, didn’t stay with him for long as Abhishek Sharma reached the landmark in 16 balls. Head’s assault on MI bowlers meant SRH reached 81 in the powerplay, which is the highest score by SRH in this phase.
Fans were reminded of Head’s blockbuster century in the World Cup 2023 final.
This clobbering of the Mumba Indians bowlers by Travis Head led to some funny memes:
Hardik won the toss and elected to bowl first.
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: [Watch] SRH vs MI: Hardik Pandya Welcomed With Loud Boos By Hyderabad Crowd
