Hardik Pandya shocked, Nita Ambani in disbelief as Travis Head survives despite being dismissed twice in two balls
Travis Head produced one of the slowest knocks in his IPL career on Thursday against MI
It wasn’t the night that belonged to Travis Head, who seemingly struggled on the tricky Wankhede track against Mumbai Indians on Thursday as he produced one of the slowest knocks in his IPL career. But he definitely had a bit of luck on his side as he was dismissed twice in consecutive balls by Hardik Pandya, only to survive after the umpire signaled it as a no ball.
It happened on the fourth ball of the 10th over of Sunrisers’ innings in Mumbai when Hardik dished out a fuller delivery at the stumps as Head whipped it off his pads and picked out Will Jacks at deep mid-wicket. The Mumbai Indians captain burst into celebration, and so did the owners and the staff members, went suddenly the siren went off. Hardik did not pay heed to the siren first, and neither did Head, who had already made his way back to the dugout, before umpire Jayaraman Madanagopal confirmed it as a no ball. The all-rounder was left shocked and so was Nita Ambani.
Head was dismissed yet again on the following ball as he holed the outside off delivery to Mitchell Satner at long-on, but survived as it was a free hit.
Sunrisers Hyderabad scrape to 162/5
Head eventually scored 28 off 29, en route to which he became the second quickest batter to 1000 IPL runs, getting to the mark in just 575 balls, 30 more than what Andre Russell had managed.
For most of the innings, Sunrisers Hyderabad batters struggled to adapt to the Wankhede wicket as the Mumbai spinners made the most of the grip and turn that was on offer. Such was the impact of MI’s control that the first six of the game came as late as in the 18th over. But a big finish -- 57 runs coming off the last five overs -- gave SRH some much-needed impetus towards the end. In the final over, Aniket Verma hit a couple of sixes and Pat Cummins smacked one to take vital 22 runs off Pandya.
