Abhishek Sharma has announced his arrival with his sensational knock of 74 runs off 28 balls in their IPL 2026 clash against Punjab Kings which is being played at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur in New Chandigarh.
SRH openers' mayhem against PBKS
Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to bowl first. Opening the innings for SRH, Abhishek Sharma went berserk, stitching a 120-run stand in just 49 balls with Travis Head, who scored 38 off 23 balls, including five fours and a six.
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SRH post third-highest powerplay score in IPL history
The duo's relentless assault saw them target every corner of the ground, sparing no bowler in their pursuit of a dominant start. By the end of the first six overs, SRH had posted a staggering 105/0, marking the highest powerplay total of the current season. This explosive performance also saw them equal a historic milestone, tying with Kolkata Knight Riders' 2017 record against RCB for the joint-third highest powerplay score in tournament history.
Abhishek Sharma achieves big feat in IPL
Abhishek Sharma's knock of 74 off 28 balls, consisted of five fours and eight sixes. Seven of those eight sixes came inside the powerplay, making him the first Indian batter with most sixes in the first six overs in IPL history.
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Before Abhishek Sharma, only three foreign batters, Sanath Jayasuriya, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow, had managed to hit seven sixes in the powerplay of an IPL innings.
Punjab Kings' strong start
At the end of first innings, SRH posted a total of 219/6, with Abhishek Sharma top scoring with a decent contributions from Travis Head (38 off 23), Ishan Kishan (27 off 17) and Heinrich Klassen (39 off 33).
At the time of writing, Punjab Kings have got off to a strong strat with an unbeaten opening stand of 93 runs in the powerplay. Priyansh Arya is unbeaten on 51 off 18 balls, while Prabhsimran Singh is not out on 41 off 18.