Whether Abhishek Sharma had that note ready just before this game or earlier is a topic for another day, but one man will be over the moon at the moment. And that man was undoubtedly one of India’s best all-rounders in white-ball cricket. Who else, but Yuvraj Singh – the mentor of Abhishek. What a night this is for the SRH fans. They were down and out after 4 successive losses, and the victory, and the manner in how they won, couldn’t have come at a better time. Warner. Williamson. Cummins, Klaasen, Head, Abhishek….The list of cricketers that have a special spot in the hearts of SRH fans continues to grow bigger. The IPL double-header bandwagon, however, is only gonna get better as there’s another loading one for tomorrow. Battle of Royals in Jaipur, followed by DC vs MI in Delhi. Should be cracker of a day. Do remember to tune in for those games. Until next time, it’s a goodbye from Raju Peethala on behalf of Anurag Hegde, Nikhil Jadhav and Venky. Cheers!!
Abhishek Sharma | Player of the Match: It’s not easy for any player to go through that form. Special mention to the team and captain, very simple message to the batters although I was not doing well. Had a talk with Travis and it was a special day for both of us. I never play anything behind the wicket, I was trying a few shots because I wanted to invent a few shots because of the size and the bounce on this wicket. The whole team is waiting for my parents. They are very lucky for the team and Orange Army. We did not talk anything, we just wanted to express and play the natural game. This one is very special and I was thinking that I wanted to break the losing streak, it was very tough as a player and as a youngster, but the mood in the team was very good. Special mention to Yuvi (paaji), I have been talking to him and also thanks to Suryakumar Yadav as well. I have been in touch with him and he has been there for me.
Pat Cummins | SRH skipper: Amazing. It suits our style and we know we are gonna get. It’s a good wicket and the ball pings around here. Any over under 10 you feel like a big win as a bowler. It’s kind of crazy that you feel semi-confident chasing that score. Pretty big fan of his (Abhishek) batting. We didn’t want to change the recipe. The batting group played quite a bit last year and we are confident of their abilities. They (the fans) are amazing, always waving the flags and great atmosphere.
Travis Head: Not bad, nice to get on the winners list. Exceptional night, we needed it. We had our work cut out at the halfway point. We gave ourselves a chance, showed a bit more patience at the start. We knew the plans they were going to come with. Gave ourselves a bit more time and got off to a flier. We did the things we did really well last year and that’s what made us such a good partnership. It’s just about encouraging each other, picking our targets and setting the stage. We’ve seen 270-280 scored on that wicket. We’ve played on slightly different wickets but no.2 seems to put out big scores. Everything had to go right for us to chase down 240. (On the exchange with Maxwell and Stoinis) You bring out the best and the worst in each other when you know them so well, nothing too serious, just a bit of banter.