Watch: Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya switched roles during Sunrisers Hyderabad’s innings in the IPL today (March 27), with the former captain sending the new captain to the boundary amid Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma’s assault.
Mumbai Indians came under attack from some brutal batting by Sunrisers’ top order at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Head put on a 45-run partnership with fellow opener Mayank Agarwal, the latter scoring only 11 of those runs, before forming a devastating stand with Sharma. Head finished with 62 off 24 balls before he was caught at backward point. Sharma was out two overs later holing out to deep midwicket, he hit seven sixes in his 23-ball innings.
By that point, MI were in plenty of trouble, with the score reading 161-3 after just 11 overs. In just his second game as Mumbai’s captain, Pandya’s tactics came into question, having only bowled Jasprit Bumrah for one over before the 13th.
Previous MI captain Rohit seemed to take over some of the captaincy burden on the field amid the chaos. He was seen organising the field and sending Pandya out to field on the boundary rope. In the previous game, MI’s first of the season, a clip of Pandya moving Rohit around in the field had gone viral.
However, with South Africa duo Heinrich Klaasen and Aiden Markram at the crease, Mumbai’s problems worsened. With two overs to go, SRH’s score read 243-3, threatening the highest score of the tournament’s history. Klaasen reached his fifty off just 23 balls, having hit five sixes en route. Despite that, it was actually the slowest of the three fifties in the innings at that point.
Sunrisers went past the record for the highest-ever IPL innings total in the final over of their innings, Klaasen smashing a six off Shams Mulani to go past 263. The finished their innings with a total of 277-3, the highest domestic T20 score ever, Klaasen unbeaten on 80 off 34.
Watch Hardik and Rohit switch roles below
Rohit Sharma sent hardik pandya on the boundary line 😭😭🔥
This is peak cinema 😭😭🔥🔥pic.twitter.com/lR9uJNp4IW
— ᴘʀᴀᴛʜᴍᴇsʜ⁴⁵ (@45Fan_Prathmesh) March 27, 2024
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