Sunrisers Hyderabad’s all-in or bust approach could define T20s in the coming years, and the reason they might go down as the buccaneering originals.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, the champions of 2016 edition, might not be the most successful team in the league, might not flaunt star-appeal like Mumbai Indians or Royal Challengers Bangalore, or wield the aura of Chennai Super Kings, have lost two of the three games this season, but when Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head bristle out with their slick bats and attack-minded ethos, the IPL globe stops to watch them tee off, keeping aside loyalties and points-table stakes.
There is this feeling of non-partisan thrill that the Sunrisers Hyderabad stirs in the audience with their unwavering commitment to attractive and attacking cricket. Lend the eyes and ears, embrace the chaos and carnage, and a spectacle unfolds. The beautiful irony is that it has come from a franchise aligned with the city of Hyderabad that has traditionally produced stylist virtuosos from ML Jaisimha to Mohammad Azharuddin to VVS Laxman. The city of wristy magicians have turned into adrenaline-fuelled magnificent axemen.
The other night, against Delhi Capitals, Abhishek jinked down the track off the first ball of the game, against the new-ball virtuoso Mitchell Starc. He mustered just a single. He could have squeezed a single in any other way he could have. A tap to the third man, a nudge to fine leg. Conventional routes beckoned. But there is no fun in that, neither for the crowd nor, it seems, for him.
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The strike exchanged, Head thumped the next ball through cover and the follow-up through mid-off for successive fours. Abhishek ran himself out the same, Ishan Kishan and Nitish Kumar floundered in Starc’s next over, in his pursuit of booming strikes. But the incoming Aniket Verma whipped the second ball he faced, off Starc, through square leg to get going. The exodus of wickets didn’t hinder either Aniket or Head from decelerating, as they continued slashing, slapping and scything the ball towards the fence. A cluster of wickets they would lose, to temper the aggression was the prudent approach, and they didn’t bat the full quota of overs, a criminal offence in this format.
