Left Arm Around

Travis Head struck a rapid century before Heinrich Klaasen hit 67 as Sunrisers Hyderabad secure a 25 run victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a run-fest at the Chinaswamy Stadium.

Australian Head smashed his first IPL century in just 39 balls, the fourth fastest in the competition’s 16-year history.

Abishek Sharma fell for a well-made 34 in an opening stand of 108 with Head, before Klaasen continued the onslaught with an astonishing display of stroke making and brutal six-hitting.

Head was removed for a fine 102 by Lockie Ferguson on the hunt for more boundaries, but South Africa’s Klaasen was in no mood to let the RCB bowlers off the hook on a brilliant batting surface.

He was particularly punishing down the ground, smoking 2 fours and 7 sixes in a knock that enhances his reputation as one of the best white-ball batters in the world.

Klaasen, 32, has now scored 253 runs at a frightening strike-rate of 199.21 in IPL 2024 so far.

Fellow South African Aiden Markram added 32 and Abdul Samad crunched 37 from 10 balls as SRH eclipsed their own record to reach the highest score in domestic T20 history, finishing on a monumental 287/3.

The home side made a valiant effort in pursuit of a near impossible target, however fell well short on 262/7.

Dinesh Karthik starred with a magnificent 85 from 37, including 7 sixes, to give RCB a slight hope of victory.

Virat Kohli and Faf Du Plessis batted with great intent and execution in a rapid opening stand of 80, but Kohli’s dismissal to a clever Mayank Markande googly brought a stall to their momentum.

Will Jacks was unfortunate to be ran-out for 7 as a Du Plessis’ shot was finger-tipped back onto the stumps by Jaydev Unadkat, while Rajat Patidar, Saurav Chauhan and Du Plessis then departed in quick succession with RCB unable to maintain the steep required run-rate.

But for a herculean effort towards the back end by Karthik, and to a lesser extent Mahipal Lomror and Anju Rawat, the home side could have faced a complete humiliation in front of a raucous Bangalore crowd.

Karthik’s monstrous 108 metre six off the bowling of Natarajan was registered the longest of IPL 17 so far, beating the 106m effort of Klaasen earlier in the match.

SRH captain Pat Cummins was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/43, including the crucial wicket of opposition captain Du Plessis for 62.

Victory for SRH leaves them fourth in the table with four wins and two losses from six fixtures thus far.

Another defeat for RCB means their hopes of reaching the play-offs are all but over.

They have just one win from seven games so far.