Abhishek Sharma, Klaasen fire SRH to 194 against CSK in IPL clash

Abhishek Sharma’s rapid 15-ball fifty and Heinrich Klaasen’s steady half-century helped Sunrisers Hyderabad post 194/9 against Chennai Super Kings in Hyderabad. Despite Jamie Overton’s three wickets, SRH set a challenging 195-run target in the IPL league match

Hyderabad: Explosive opener Abhishek Sharma and a belligerent Heinrich Klaasen cracked half-centuries to help Sunrisers Hyderabad, put in to bat, set up a challenging target of 195 for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL league match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday night.

Abhishek Sharma made serious amends for the first-ball duck in the previous match against Rajasthan Royals here, with his trademark blows to upset the CSK game plan of opening the bowling with off-spinner Mathew Short.

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The explosive left-hander hit him for three fours and two sixes in the fifth over, even as his partner Travis Head was not at his imperious best despite hitting a six over covers off pacer Anshul Kamboj. Not surprisingly, Abhishek was in a hurry and reached his 50 off just 15 balls with five fours and four sixes.

In the sixth over, Head (23, 20b, 3×4, 1×6) perished, hitting a harmless full toss from pacer Mukesh Choudhary straight to mid-off and off the next ball, captain Ishan Kishan went for a first-ball duck, mistiming a lofted shot to be caught at mid-off (75/2 in 6 overs).

Abhishek was lucky on 51 when his pull stroke was missed by Shivam Dube in the deep off left-arm spinner Noor Ahmed in the seventh over. But he is such a class player that in the next over, he stood up to loft fast bowler Jamie Overton over covers for a six. However, in the same over, Overton struck as Abhishek (pushed one on off-stump) edged it and wicketkeeper Sanju Samson insisted on a review for a caught behind, which was successful (93/3 in 8 overs).

Overton struck again twice soon to send back Aniket Varma (2) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (12) in quick succession (147/5 in 13.5 overs).

While all this was happening, at the other end Heinrich Klaasen quietly left another huge impression with his 10th IPL fifty (59, 39b, 6×4, 2×6), though there were a couple of edges to the fence. He is one of those quiet performers in the IPL and during the course became the Orange Cap holder too.

Three-wicket hauls by Jamie Overton and Anshul Kamboj, the latter now the Purple Cap holder, ensured that SRH was restricted to 194/9 in 20 overs.