Sunrisers Hyderabad batter Travis Head revealed that his celebration after completing the century against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) was for head coach Daniel Vettori. Head was flawless as he wreaked havoc in the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, with the majority of the RCB bowlers falling at the receiving end of the Australian’s onslaught. Head struck the fastest ton of the IPL 2024 and the fourth highest in the history of the competition. He reached the three-digit mark in a mere 39 deliveries.
With his celebration, the left-handed batter evoked memories of former RCB opener Chris Gayle, as he took off his helmet, hung it on the handle of his bat and raised it in the air.
“That was for Dan Vettori. A couple of days ago, we were talking about celebrations and the ones that he did. We got a running gag off field and that was one for Vettori–a little inside joke,” Head said in the post-match press conference.
After putting up a record-breaking total for the hosts to chase, RCB showed a valiant fight to take the match close against the odds.
The blistering start from Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis laid the foundation for a positive start. While, Dinesh Karthik acted as the driving force that took the RCB closer to the elusive target.
RCB managed to put 262/7 on the board, yet Head feels that SRH’s bowling unit bowled well, with skipper Pat Cummins producing a standout performance for the visitors.
“We actually bowled quite well. I think we really did well to reduce them to 5/120 and DK played an unbelievable innings which got them closer to the game. But we bowled really, really well. We knew we probably needed three or four good overs to make sure that we won the game. I think Pat (Cummins) bowled exceptionally well. We got wickets throughout the middle overs, which set the game up,” Head added.
Coming to the match, after putting SRH to bat, Travis Head (102) and Heinrich Klaasen’s (67) blitz powered the visitors to 287/3.
In reply, Kohli (42) and du Plessis (62) provided the hosts with the ideal start but wickets falling consistently impeded their chase. Dinesh Karthik starred with the bat yet again with a sensational knock of 83. Yet it wasn’t enough to take his team across the finish line, as RCB suffered a 25-run defeat.
