With Sunrisers Hyderabad losing four matches in a row, Abhishek Sharma, just like every member of the team, wanted to break the losing streak. On Saturday, he got the opportunity and came up with a mesmerizing century to help the Sunrisers beat the Punjab Kings by eight wickets in Match 27 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 in Hyderabad.
This one is very special because I wanted to break that losing streak. Losing four matches back-to-back was very tough. But we never talked about it in the team," said Abhishek after leading the team to a big win.
The 24-year-old left-hander from Amritsar in Punjab smashed a sensational 141 off 55 balls, studded with 14 fours and 10 sixes to score the highest individual score by an Indian. His opening partner Travis Head hammered a 37-ball 66 to help Sunrisers reach 247/2 in 18.2 overs after their bowlers had allowed Punjab Kings to post a massive 245/6 electing to bat first.
Punjab Kings' score was built around a superb 82 by their skipper Shreyas Iyer. His 36-ball knock was studded with six fours and an equal number of sixes. Prabhsimran Singh scored 42 while Marcus Stoinis contributed a blazing 11-ball 34 to further boost the score.
But in the end, Abhishek's special innings knocked the stuffing out of the Punjab Kings' bowling, absolutely bludgeoning the attack with sensational shots.
Special mention to the team and captain. The atmosphere was simple even though the batters were not doing well. It was a special day for both of us. If you have seen me close enough I never play behind the wicket. But today I wanted to invent a few shots which was very easy on this wicket. It helped us both.
Abhishek and Travis unleashed absolute mayhem in the middle blasting the ball to all parts of the ground as they raised 171 runs for the opening wicket which set SRH on course to victory. He was in a belligerent mood from the start itself and just when after the bowling.
Abhishek made a special mention of former India batter Yuvraj Singh and India's T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, both of whom got in touch with him when the chips were down.
Brief scores: Punjab Kings 245/6 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 82, Prabhsimran Sing 42, Marcus Stoinis 34 not out; Harshal Patel 4-42, Eshan Malinga 2-45) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 247/2 in 18.3 overs (Abhishek Sharma 141, Travis Head 66; Arshdeep Singh 1-37, Yuzvendra Chahal 1-56) by eight wickets.
Pooran masterclass downs the Titans
Earlier in the day, wicketkeeper batter Nicholas Pooran, the early leader in the race to be the highest scorer of the tournament, came up with a superb half-century to help Lucknow Super Giant end the four-match winning run of Gujarat Titans.
After Shardul Thakur (2-34) and Ravi Bishnoi (2-36) helped LSG reel in Gujarat Titans after Sai Sudharsan (56) and Shubman Gill (60) had blasted 120 runs for the opening wicket in 12.1 overs. From 120 for no loss in 12 overs, Gujarat Titans lost their way and could manage only 180/6 in 20 overs.
In their chase of 181, LSG started with Markram and Rishabh Pant, who surprised everyone by coming out to open the innings, but could only manage 21 runs off 18 balls. Markram and Pooran then raised 58 runs for the second wicket. Pooran, who scored his half-century off 23 balls, along with Ayush Badoni (28 not out) put LSG on course to victory.
It was absolutely a beautiful wicket to bat on. It's not much talk. As a group we know we have depth in our batting lineup. Unfortunately, Mitch (Mitchell Marsh) didn't play so Rishabh stepped up and played. Nice to see Aiden get a start and carry on. I surprised myself sometimes. For me it's about trying to get the ball off as close to the middle of the bat as possible and trust my bat swing.
Brief Scores: Gujarat Titans 180/6 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 60, Sai Sudharsan 53, Sherfane Rutherford 22; Shardul Thakur 2-34, Ravi Bishnoi 2-36) lost to Lucknow Super Giants 186/4 in 19.3 overs (Nicholas Pooran 61, Aiden Markram 58, Ayush Badoni 28*; Prasidh Krishna 2-26, Washington Sundar 1-28) by six wickets.
