Mohammad Kaif praised the SRH opening duo’s aggressive batting and cautioned it could be a career-ender for bowlers.
The SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) climbed to third place in the IPL 2024 points table after a convincing 10-wicket victory over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Wednesday, May 8th, in Hyderabad. LSG set a target of 166 runs after batting first. However, the SRH openers, Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, chased down the total with ease within 9.4 overs, which left ex-Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif in awe.
Mohammad Kaif praised the duo’s intent and technique, suggesting it could be a nightmare for bowlers. “Pat Cummins, Aussie captain; Travis Head, player from Australia. So this is the Australian intent. I remember the 2003 World Cup final: Australia against India. The conditions were overcast. We won the toss, and Sourav Ganguly said we would win the match as the ball would swing. Australia made 360. This has not happened for the first time. We have seen in this entire IPL that bowlers are unable to stop these two batters. This is career-ending batting; the bowler is dropped from the next match; they are batting like that,” Kaif said on Star Sports, as quoted by Sportskeeda.
Head’s unbeaten knock of 89 runs came off just 30 balls, including eight boundaries and eight maximums. Sharma was equally brutal, scoring an unbeaten 75 off 28 deliveries with eight fours and six sixes.
Kaif pointed out the stark contrast between the batting approaches of the two teams. LSG’s top order struggled to score quickly, managing only 57 runs in the first ten overs. In comparison, SRH raced to 100 runs around the powerplay overs.
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“The intent we should have seen from Lucknow in a big match was totally missing. SRH didn’t slog; they played top-class batting. They watched the ball carefully and hit it cleanly, even off good deliveries,” Kaif observed.
“Hyderabad showed that they can play like this when the situation demands it. Winning by 10 wickets is a clear statement to the other teams who will come here. Gujarat, who play their next match at this ground, need to come with a solid plan,” Kaif concluded.
This win significantly boosted SRH’s net run rate to 0.406. A victory in either of their remaining league matches will likely secure their place in the playoffs. They will have their next outing against GT on May 16th.
Last Updated on May 9, 2024
