Travis Head fights with Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis tries to step in, hears mouthful from SRH opener
Travis Head was not amused at all. He had a go at Glenn Maxwell for throwing the ball towards him and the PBKS all-rounder did not back away.
There was no shortage of fireworks in the IPL 2025 match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Punjab Kings, either with the bat or among the cricketers. Three Australian cricketers who have won multiple world titles as part of the same team got involved in a war of words during an IPL 2025 match in Hyderabad. Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Travis Head and Punjab Kings all-rounder Glenn Maxwell were having a go at each other during Saturday's match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium when Marcus Stoinis joined in, only to get a mouthful from Head.
It all started in the 9th over of SRH's massive 246-run chase. Head smashed Maxwell for successive sixes off the third and fourth ball of the over. Head tried to make some room on the next ball, but Maxwell followed him with a quicker-length ball. Head could not get it away and hit it straight back to Maxwell, who gathered the ball and threw it back at the keeper.
Head was not amused at all. He had a go at Maxwell for throwing the ball towards him and the PBKS all-rounder did not back away. After the brief altercation, both players went back to their mark. Maxwell finished the over with another dot ball. But as the players were changing ends, Head once again said something to Maxwell, who went away without reacting much.
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But seeing Head having a full-blown go at Maxwell, his PBKS teammate Marcus Stoinis walked up to Head and said something. Head was in no mood to listen to Stoinis. The left-hander shooed Stoinis away even as the umpire asked Head to calm down.
It was the first notable on-field argument of IPL 2025 and that too between three Australian cricketers, this is as rare as it gets.
Head was dismissed three overs later by Yuzvendra Chahal, and ironically, Maxwell took the catch.
The SRH opener, however, brushed it aside as banter. "It's all fun. I think they probably bring the best and the worst out of you when you know each other and play each other so much. So, yeah, a bit of friendly banter between us, but it's all good. I got to put up with them at home, so nothing to it," Head told the broadcasters when asked about his altercation with Maxwell and Stoinis.
Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head pull off record chase for SRH
The heat on the field was not just restricted to words the batters of both sides smashed the ball to all parts of the ground. SRH pulled off the second-highest run chase in the history of IPL, knocking the 246-ru target set by PBKS in 182 overs with eight wickets in hand. The chase was behind Punjab's record of 262 against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens last year.
Abhishek Sharma (141 off 55 balls) and Travis Head, who hit 66, put on this season's highest stand of 171 to set up the chase before hosts Hyderabad achieved the target with nine balls to spare.
Abhishek's score -- his first IPL century -- is the third individual score in the T20 tournament behind Chris Gayle (175 not out for Bengaluru) and Brendon McCullum (158 not out for Kolkata).
Shreyas Iyer's 82 and a late blitz of 34 by Marcus Stoinis steered Punjab to 245-6, but the total proved less as Hyderabad openers made their team move off the bottom of the 10-team table with two wins in six matches.
Abhishek tore apart the opposition bowling to reach his fifty in 19 balls.
Australia's Head fell to leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal after hitting nine fours and three sixes in his 37-ball knock.
