'Travishek' is back as Cummins' Sunrisers rise again

Known reverentially as 'Travishek', the most devastating opening partnership in the Indian Premier League between Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma has suffered a serious, spluttering malfunction this season.

That is, until Saturday in Hyderabad.

The southpaw combination of the Australian barnstormer and his Indian partner-in-destruction had failed to fire all campaign for Sunrisers Hyderabad, but captain Pat Cummins always maintained that when it did click again it would be spectacular.

And that's exactly how it turned out as the pair put on an extraordinary 171 first-wicket partnership off only 75 balls to help the Sunrisers end a four-match losing streak against Ricky Ponting's Punjab Kings and pull off the second-highest successful chase in IPL annals by reaching 2-247 off 18.3 overs.

Head was coming off a rare couple of failures but looked back to his best, pummelling 66 off 37 balls, featuring three sixes and nine fours.

Yet he would be the first to admit he was quite spectacularly eclipsed by the brilliance coming from Abhishek at the other end, as the 24-year-old from Amritsar smashed 10 sixes and 14 fours in an innings of 141 that took him just 55 balls to compile. 

That's a strike rate of 256, sustained over 16 overs and two balls. "Phenomenal," as Cummins put it.

Upon reaching his century, the 24-year-old pulled a scrap of paper out from his pocket, with a scribbled note reading “This one is for Orange Army”.

His 141 with 10 sixes is the highest score in the IPL by an Indian player, the highest score by a Sunrisers player and the most sixes hit in an innings by a player from Hyderabad.

With the criticism beginning to mount around his team's all-or-nothing approach, this was a vindication for Cummins and his faith in Sharma, who'd only mustered 51 in total in his previous five knocks. 

"I'm a pretty big fan of Abhi. We've been really happy with how everyone's going and training and the form, it just hasn't clicked. So we didn't want to change the recipe or tear it apart. We just keep concentrating on what makes us good players," said Cummins.

Asked to sum up his partner's knock in one word, Head offered: "Ridiculous!"

"Nice to get back into the rhythm again," added the left-hander. "We just wanted to make sure to do the small things right like we did last year. We complement each other really well."

Head took a liking to his old mate Glenn Maxwell's spin, hitting him for two consecutive sixes, amid some cheery Aussie banter. Maxwell ended up going for 40 off his three overs amid the mayhem.

Earlier, Marcus Stoinis had joined in the big-hitting carnage for the Kings, clouting four consecutive sixes off paceman Mohammed Shami to end the innings, as he finished 34no off just 11 balls. 

That also left the Indian Test quick Shami nursing the second-worst figures in the history of the IPL, 0-75 from his four overs.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer had led the way for Punjab with 82 off 36 balls, hitting six sixes in his third half-century of the season.

Earlier in the day's other match in Lucknow, Mitch Marsh, who's been in spectacular form for the Lucknow Super Giants all season, was forced to miss the match against the Gujarat Titans, with his team captain Rishabh Pant explaining that Australia's T20 captain was looking after his poorly daughter.

In his absence, Lucknow, on 4-186 (Aiden Markram 58, Nicholas Pooran 61), still eased to a six-wicket win after Gujarat had made 6-180 (Sai Sudharsan 56, Shubman Gill 60). 

Australians at IPL 2025

Chennai Super Kings: Nathan Ellis ($365k)

Delhi Capitals: Mitch Starc ($2.15m), Jake Fraser-McGurk ($1.65m)

Kolkata Knight Riders: Spencer Johnson ($510k)

Lucknow Super Giants: Justin Langer (coach), Mitch Marsh ($623k)

Punjab Kings: Ricky Ponting (coach), Marcus Stoinis ($2m), Glenn Maxwell ($770k), Josh Inglis ($475k), Aaron Hardie ($228k), Xavier Bartlett ($146k)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Josh Hazlewood ($2.29m), Tim David ($547k)

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins ($3.7m), Travis Head ($1.2m), Adam Zampa ($440k)

2025 IPL standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Ties T	No results N/R	Net Run Rate NRR	Deductions Ded.	Total points PTS
1 Gujarat Titans GUT	8	6	2	0	0	1.104	0	12
2 Delhi Capitals Men DEL	8	6	2	0	0	0.657	0	12
3 Royal Challengers Bengaluru Men RCB	9	6	3	0	0	0.482	0	12
4 Punjab Kings KXI	9	5	3	0	1	0.177	0	11
5 Mumbai Indians MI	9	5	4	0	0	0.673	0	10
6 Lucknow Super Giants LSG	9	5	4	0	0	-0.054	0	10
7 Kolkata Knight Riders KKR	9	3	5	0	1	0.212	0	7
8 Sunrisers Hyderabad SUN	9	3	6	0	0	-1.103	0	6
9 Rajasthan Royals RAJ	9	2	7	0	0	-0.625	0	4
10 Chennai Super Kings CSK	9	2	7	0	0	-1.302	0	4

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

T: Ties

N/R: No results

NRR: Net Run Rate

Ded.: Deductions

PTS: Total points