Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) consultant Adam Voges was left speechless after Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) hard-hitting destroyed his team and handed the visitors a thumping defeat in a one-sided contest in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 match. SRH destroyed the LSG, dominating them with the new ball in the first place and then chasing down 166 in 9.4 overs beating LSG by 10 wickets, the fastest 10-over score in T20. The brilliant batting of Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, who reached their fifties in 16 and 19 balls, respectively, shared the greatest powerplay scores in T20 cricket history by scoring a century stand inside the powerplay for the second time this IPL.
“I think we all are in awe a little bit of what we’ve just seen. I think sometimes you’ve gotta tip your hat and say well played to the opposition. I think might have hit miss, hit one or two balls in the nine and a bit overs that we bowled at them. That was incredible batting and hitting. We clearly didn’t have an answer,” Voges said in a post-match press conference
Courtesy of the explosive combination of Head and Sharma, Hyderabad got off to a flying start. No bowler was given any breathing room by either batter. Head and Abhishek both reached their half-centuries in less than 20 balls apiece and denied any bowler an opportunity. While Head hit 89 off just 30 deliveries, Abhishek Sharma scored 75 runs in just 28 balls and the dup never ceased pushing limits with their first swing.
“I haven’t spoken to the guys yet about whether there was a difference in terms of the innings but clearly our powerplay compared to Sunrisers was at the two extremes. We were put under immense pressure with the ball right from the start. We weren’t able to apply that same pressure with the bat, to begin with,” he added.
The Super Giants were reeling at 66/4 in 11.2 overs when the pair got together the duo of Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran stitched up an unbeaten 99-run stand in 52 balls to give LSG slight hope of a competitive total. By moving around in the crease and controlling the field, Badoni spearheaded the attack and reached a fifty in 28 balls.
Voges said Badoni and Pooran’s partnership gave LSG a fighting chance however the total of 165 “was clearly not enough.”
“I thought our backend of the innings was really good. Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran’s partnership got us, it was probably still under par total but it gave us a fighting chance at least. But that obviously was clearly not enough,” Voges said.
The loss was LSG’s sixth in the IPL 2024, and because of the wide margin of defeat, it severely damaged their net run-rate as well. They are currently ranked sixth after falling below Delhi Capitals in the most recent rankings.
