Sachin Tendulkar awed by Travis Head- Abhishek Sharma's unbelievable blitz vs LUC

Hyderabad (HYD) were completely dominant as they secured a one-sided victory against Lucknow in Ind T20 League 2024 fixture, on Wednesday. Openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma remained unbeaten as HYD made a mockery of the 166 run target, chasing it inside 10 overs unscathed. 

Abhishek, who played as an impact player, smashed an whirlwind 75* off 28 balls, studded with eight fours and six sixes. Meanwhile, his opening partner Head smacked an unbeaten knock of 89 off 30 balls, hitting eight fours and as many sixes in the process. 

HYD moved to third while LUC remained at sixth. The hosts' batting display was simply amazing and also received heaps of praise from all corners. Meanwhile, India maestro Sachin Tendulkar took to X (previously known as Twitter), and labelled it as ‘an understatement’. 

He wrote, “A destructive opening partnership would be an understatement tonight. Had these boys batted first, they would have scored 300!”  

Earlier in the evening, a two wicket haul from veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar saw HYD contain LUC to 165/4 in 20 overs. Early jitters dented LUC’s hopes of putting up a colossal total as they were reduced to 66/4 in 10 overs. Ayush Badoni (55*) and Nicholas Pooran (48*) revived visitors’ falterning innings as the duo remained unbeaten and propelled their side to a decent first innings total. However, the way HYD openers batted even 300 wouldn't have been enough. The orange army won with 62 balls to spare, which also became the best win in Ind T20 League with most balls to spare in 100 plus targets. 

On Wednesday, Head and Abhishek also faced second-fewest balls in Indian T20 League history to put up a 100 run stand, coming up in just 34 balls. They are also on top of this list, facing only 30 balls against Delhi (DEL) this year. After the victory, HYD ascended to third place in the standings with 14 points. LUC on the other hand remained at sixth with 12 points. 

Praising Head, Abhishek said, "All the credit goes to him (Head). The way he starts against all bowlers.. he goes after them from the start and takes the pressure off. The bowlers told us (during the innings break) that it was getting better, but myself and Travis thought it was not doing much."

Meanwhile, the Aussie opener lauded Abhishek. He said, "I know how hard he works and how deep he thinks, his spin play is second to none. We compliment each other very well. Nice to see him back amongst the runs after missing out the last couple of games.