Shepherd escapes Hyderabad wrath in record-breaking IPL match
HYDERABAD, India (CMC) — West Indies all-rounder Romario Shepherd was possibly counting his lucky stars after Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) won a slugfest against his side, defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) by 31 runs in a thrilling Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old Guyanese was the designated Impact Player for MI, but he was not called upon to bowl after they won the toss and chose to field, and they watched SRH pile up the highest IPL total ever of 277/3 in the Twenty20 contest at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
The mind-boggling batting of SRH beat the previous highest total in the tournament of 263/5 set by Royal Challengers Bangalore 11 years ago.
To put things into perspective – Heinrich Klaasen, whose 80 off 34 balls was the top score, was the slowest of the SRH batsmen to reach 50, requiring 23 balls.
Travis Head, playing his first match, raced to the milestone from 18 balls in a supporting knock of 62 off 24 balls, and Abhishek Sharma got there even faster – from 16 balls – to record the fastest half-century by an SRH batsman in 63 off 23 balls.
Shepherd was asked to bat in the chase, replacing South African pacer Kwena Maphaka, but when he arrived at the crease, MI required 54 from 12 balls, and there was no hope of him or the visitors scripting a memorable comeback story — and he finished not out on 15.
The result meant that SRH moved up to third in the 10-team table with two points from one win and one loss in two matches, and MI dropped to ninth with no points to show from the two matches that they have played.
Head, who survived a chance off MI captain Hardik Pandya early in the innings, set things in motion for SRH, and they reached 81 for one at the close of the Power Play after losing opener Mayank Agarwal caught at mid-on off the same bowler for 11 in the fifth over.
The Australian left-hander added 68 for the second wicket with Sharma in quick time to take SRH past 100 before he was caught on the point boundary off South Africa pacer Gerald Coetzee in the eighth over.
Sharma breezed to his 50 and carried SRH past 150, but he was caught at deep mid-wicket off leg-spinner Piyush Chawla in the 11th over.
From there, Klaasen and fellow South African Aiden Markram, not out on 42, pasted the MI bowling, taking 116 unbroken off the last nine overs in a spectacular display of six-hitting.
In reply, MI closed the Power Play on 76 for two, and they were 150 for three in the 11th over, but none of their batsmen could match the firepower of SRH, although 523 runs were scored and 38 sixes struck across the two innings — both being records in an IPL match and T20 cricket overall.