Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma's stupendous 12-ball 37 set up Sunrisers Hyderabad's successful run chase against Chennai Super Kings in the IPL on Friday and the southpaw credited the feat to the hard work he had put in before the tournament with help from former batting stars Brian Lara and Yuvraj Singh.
The 23-year-old Abhishek pummeled a listless Mukesh Chaudhary for 27 runs with the help of two fours and three sixes in the second over to set up the run chase of 166. Aiden Markram then anchored the SRH innings to take the team home with 11 balls to spare.
"It is all the hard work i have put before this. Special thanks to my dad, Yuvi (Yuvraj Singh) paaji and Brian Lara," Abhishek, who was named player of the match, said at the post-match presentation.
"While bowling, we felt it was a slow wicket. So we wanted to take the powerplay on. We had a chance to prepare well before the IPL. We knew it will be slow but not if we take on the bowler. Because it would be difficult for the bowler as well," added the youngster who scored at an astounding strike rate of 308.33.
Asked which one he would prefer between high strike rate and big runs, he said, "Big scores matter, but I went with the flow today. Hopefully I will not get out last next time."
SRH captain Pat Cummins joked that he would not be wanting to bowl to Abhishek.
"I would not be wanting to be bowling to him," the Australian said.
"Different soil, slowed up as the game went on. Still a fantastic game. We have got plenty of fast bowlers. Shivam (Dube) was hitting the spinners. So we took a chance with the fast bowlers bowling cutters."
Asked about the home crowd, he said, "The crowd is crazy tonight, especially when MS (Dhoni) walked out. We love playing here, home conditions."
