BENGALURU, APRIL 16
Sunrisers Hyderabad racked a record Indian Premier League total of 287-3 and beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by only 25 runs on Monday.
Travis Head's 102, the fourth fastest century in IPL history off 39 balls, propelled Hyderabad to better its own IPL record of 277-3 set this season against Mumbai Indians.
Bengaluru looked like it was crashing to a heavy defeat at 181-6 in the 15th over until Dinesh Karthik plundered 83 off 35 balls to finish on 262-7 and narrow their defeat.
The aggregate of 549 runs was easily the highest in IPL history.
Head's blistering century included eight sixes and nine fours. The Australian left-hander pounded the fast bowlers, notably Lockie Ferguson (2-52), who had a forgetful first game of the season as Bengaluru's ploy not to go with a specialist spinner backfired.
Head raised his half-century off 20 balls and completed his century off the next 19 balls. Head attempted another big shot off Ferguson and holed out to Faf du Plessis at mid-off.
Hyderabad didn't change gears as Heinrich Klassen added 67, including a 23-ball half-century, Abdul Salam an unbeaten 37, and Aiden Markram an unbeaten 32. They smashed 46 runs off the last two overs bowled by Reece Topley (1-68) and Vijaykumar Vyshak (0-64).
In the chase, Du Plessis (62) and Virat Kohli (42) helped the home team to a rollicking start of 79 in the batting power play.
Hyderabad struck through skipper Pat Cummins (3-43) and leg-spinner Mayank Markande (2-46).
Kohli survived early when spinner Abhishek Sharma couldn't hold onto a return catch in the first over. But Kohli was clean-bowled by Markande's slow googly.
Du Plessis, who hit four sixes and seven fours, was caught down the leg side when he attempted a pull shot against Cummins.
Karthik took charge and bludgeoned seven sixes and five boundaries before he got a thin edge in the penultimate over. Anuj Rawat (25 not out) hit four boundaries in the last over against Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0-60) in a nightmarish game for bowlers.
The victory lifted batting-heavy Hyderabad into the top four, while Bengaluru suffered a sixth defeat in seven games.
