Sunrisers Hyderabad star batter Abhishek Sharma has shattered a huge IPL record during his team’s clash against Chennai Super Kings at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday, April 18. Abhishek was back to his best as he made a 22-ball 59 after SRH were asked to bat first.
The swashbuckling opener slammed four sixes and six fours in an innings that was filled with his fearlessness as he took apart the off-spinner Matthew Short aplomb after seeing him off in his first over.ย
With his knock, Abhishek completed 2000 runs in Indian cash-rich league. He broke Virender Sehwag’s record for being the fastest Indian to the milestone, having taken 1194 balls to get there. Sehwag needed 1211 deliveries to reach the milestone. Meanwhile, Abhishek fell short of the all-time record of Andre Russell, who had reached the feat in 1120 balls.
Fewest balls taken for 2000 IPL runs:
1120 – Andre Russell
1193 – Abhishek Sharma
1198 – Nicholas Pooran
1211 – Virender Sehwag
1251 – Chris Gayle
CSK opt to bowl after winning toss
Meanwhile, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bowl first. There is no MS Dhoni, but Matthew Short returns, while Mukesh Choudhary plays his first game of the season.ย
“It’s good to be up from the bottom, definitely. But I think from the second game, we started doing basic things right. Our batting was good, our bowling was good, our fielding has been 50-50. But I think in all departments, we have been doing really well. And the key today is to just stay consistent and just do the basic things right,” Gaikwad said at the toss.
“(Good to see different players perform?) Yes, obviously, last game I felt, Noor bowled really well. Good to have him back on track and definitely, even in the death, Anshul bowled really well. So a couple of guys stepping up in the bowling helps a lot. It gives me a lot of confidence and the team a lot of confidence. So, really looking forward to it. (What do you make of the surface?) In your language, it looks like abelter, but you never know how it will be. We’ll look to assess it as soon as possible and, you know, look to restrict them as low as possible,” he added.
SRH make one change
Meanwhile, SRH made one change to the team that defeated RR. “I think we would have batted first. Looks like a good wicket so we want to put up a good total. You have to bat for the team and not for individual performances. We just have to take it game by game and it doesn’t matter where we are right now because it’s a long tournament. I think the ball is going to move a bit in the beginning and the batters have to watch the ball and play well. Dilshan Madushanka comes in for Harsh Dubey for more swing upfront,” Kishan said at the toss.