Several records were broken as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a mammoth score of 287-3, the highest score in the IPL, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Monday (April 15).

It was the first time that a team breached the 285-run mark in franchise cricket as SRH broke their previous highest team score from a few weeks ago when they made 277-3 against Mumbai Indians in March. The score of 287 is the second-highest in all T20 cricket, behind only Nepal’s 314-3 against Mongolia in 2023.

The onslaught began from the very top, with openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head raced to 76 at the end of the powerplay after they were sent in to bat first by RCB skipper Faf du Plessis. The duo brought up their hundred-run stand in 43 deliveries, the joint-fastest century-plus opening stand for Hyderabad in an IPL game over the years.

While Sharma soon fell for 34 in 22, Head carried on, taking only 19 balls from fifty to hundred, reaching his century in 39 deliveries. It was the fourth-fastest ton by a batter in the IPL and the fastest since David Miller’s 38-ball ton in May 2013. Head’s 102 (41 balls) was his highest T20 score, beating his previous career-best of 101 he made in the Big Bash League in 2015. Head’s strike rate of 248.78 also meant it was the fourth-quickest IPL ton.

His hundred propelled SRH to reach their 200 in only 15 overs, making it the third-quickest team double hundred in the IPL. They eventually ended with a massive 287-3 with as many as 22 sixes in their innings, the most sixes in an IPL innings, beating the previous high of 21 hit by RCB against Pune Warriors India in 2013.

RCB’s bowling, which has been a matter of concern, let them down once again, with Reece Topley conceding 1-68 in his four overs, the most an overseas bowler has conceded in the league. A total of four bowlers – Topley, Yash Dayal (0-51), Lockie Ferguson (2-52) and Vijaykumar Vyshak (0-64) conceded more than 50 runs in the innings, only the first time more than two bowlers conceded more than 50 in one IPL innings.

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