Dinesh Karthik’s heroic effort was not enough for RCB as SRH secured a 25-run win over the hosts in the IPL 2024 run-fest in Bengaluru on Monday.
Over 500 runs were scored, but Hyderabad managed to squeeze in a superb win over RCB. RCB managed to reach 262 but still fell 25 runs short of SRH’s record-breaking 287 for 3 in the match. With this batting effort RCB also the first team to score over 250 when chasing in an IPL match. It was their 2nd-highest total in the IPL and 5th-highest total in the tournament history.
In what could easily be regarded as one of the finest display of batting in a T20 encounter, close to 550 runs were amassed in this match, precisely 549. However, despite witnessing an astounding total, Hyderabad emerged victorious, boasting an insurmountable lead. This fixture not only saw an unprecedented scoring spree but also shattered numerous records, officially securing its place as the highest-scoring T20 game ever recorded. With a staggering count of 79 boundaries, comprising 43 fours and 36 sixes, the sheer magnitude of this achievement is almost unfathomable.
Bengaluru suffered their sixth loss in seven games and remains rooted at the bottom of the table but this shows how underwhelming they have been with the ball. The batters gave it their all but 288 to get in 120 legal deliveries is almost unthinkable. Both Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis started aggressively and got a plethora of boundaries away but Kohli got out for 42, after which Faf went on a rampage, but the next three batters that came in couldn’t even get into double figures.
Faf du Plessis eventually got out on 62, after which Dinesh Karthik took matters into his hands and just about kept Bengaluru with a 1 percent chance of a win. He made a sensational 83 off 35 balls but got out in the 19th over and even Anuj Rawat’s little cameo in the final over wasn’t nearly enough to get them that crucial win.
Defending a massive total of 287 runs, Hyderabad couldn’t pick up a wicket in the Powerplay and were a bit unlucky with the edges and ended up conceding 79 runs. It was then Mayank Markande who knocked over Virat Kohli right after the Powerplay and then skipper Pat Cummins got a couple of quick wickets to hand Hyderabad the advantage.
With 5 wickets already in the bag, the visitors couldn’t capitalize and seemed nervous in the death overs. Cummins did provide one more breakthrough but they kept conceding boundaries at an alarming rate and it was T Natarajan who finally got DK in the penultimate over that sealed the game. Overall, not the best bowling performance but there were some positives, especially the way Cummins bowled.
HEAD POWERS SRH TO 287
Travis Head’s blistering century powered SRH to a staggering 287 for three against a struggling RCB in their IPL 2024 encounter. This marked a new record, surpassing their previous high of 277 against MI earlier in the season.
Head led from the front with a scintillating 102 off just 41 deliveries, marking his maiden T20 hundred. He formed crucial partnerships, first putting on 108 runs with Abhishek Sharma (34 off 22 balls) and then adding 57 with Heinrich Klaasen, who blazed his way to 67 off 31 balls. The left-handed Head’s batting style may lack elegance, but his sheer effectiveness was evident as he relentlessly punished the RCB bowlers.
His approach was simple yet devastating: anything in his hitting zone was dispatched with authority. Even the introduction of debutant Lockie Ferguson failed to stem the flow of runs, with Head taking a particular liking to his bowling. Ferguson’s first over was forgettable, conceding 18 runs as Head unleashed his power with disdain.
Despite losing Head after his hundred, Hyderabad’s onslaught continued unabated, with Klaasen taking over the role of aggressor. The South African hammered the spinners, including a brutal assault on Mahipal Lomror, yielding 18 runs in a single over.
Hyderabad’s assault culminated in a monumental total, with Aiden Markram’s single off Vysakh Vijayakumar marking the historic moment as they surpassed their own record total. Hyderabad, as habitual to begin on a flier, started off exactly in the same way. After examining the pitch for the first over, the dual southpaw duo opened the floodgates from the get-go, going aggressively against the Bengaluru bowlers.
Travis Head was the real aggressor as he timed the ball to perfection. It seemed like the ball was just effortlessly springing off his bat into the stands. Hyderabad boosted to 100 for no loss in just 7.1 overs. Abhishek Sharma too, didn’t stay quiet for long and joined the party before getting dismissed on a well-supported 34.
The Aussie southpaw however looked in no mood to calm down and went on to notch up a sensational 102 before getting out. But, the damage continued as Heinrich Klaasen joined the party and smashed a 23-ball half-century and kept inflating the scoring rate with glorious strokes. After his departure, Abdul Samad further compounded the damage as he struck a quickfire 37 off a 10-ball cameo. Aiden Markram too didn’t sit back and further helped his team to surpass the 277 mark, a record that they set just a few games ago.
Records shattered left, right, and center, bowlers left reeling with absolute helplessness, and once again, it’s the team clad in orange and black that has showcased unrelenting ruthlessness with the bat. Indeed, Hyderabad has developed a habit of toppling records remarkably.
Picture this – 22 monstrous sixes along with 19 boundaries. It is the second-highest team total in the history of all T20s and the highest total in the history of the Indian T20 League. It tells you a story, the kind of nightmare the Hyderabad batters have wreaked on this already struggling Bengaluru bowling attack.