Sunrisers Hyderabad opener Travis Head opened up after the IPL match against Punjab Kings, in Hyderabad on Saturday, and shared his thoughts on the verbal spat between him, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis.
During the ninth over of SRH’s innings, Maxwell, who was brought into the attack, was hit for consecutive sixes by Head off the third and fourth deliveries.
Maxwell immediately exchanged a few words with the Hyderabad opener. After the over, Head walked up to Maxwell and a heated verbal exchange ensued between the two, resulting in the on-field umpire stepping in.
Soon after, fellow-Australian and Punjab Kings all-rounder Marcus Stoinis joined in and exchanged words with Head.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, the 31-year-old Head said, "You bring out the best and the worst in each other when you know them so well; nothing too serious, just a bit of banter.
"Not bad, nice to get on the winners' list. It was an exceptional night; we needed it. We had our work cut out at the halfway point. We gave ourselves a chance, showed a bit more patience at the start. We knew the plans they were going to come with. Gave ourselves a bit more time and got off to a flyer.”
On the 171-run opening partnership with Abhishek Sharma, Head said: “We (he and Abhishek) did the things we did really well last year, and that's what made us such a good partnership. It's just about encouraging each other, picking our targets and setting the stage. We've seen 270-280 scored on that wicket. We've played on slightly different wickets, but No. 2 seems to put out big scores. Everything had to go right for us to chase down 240."
Coming to the match, Punjab Kings won the toss and elected to bat first. A 66-run stand between Priyansh Arya (36 off 13 balls, two fours and four sixes) and Prabhsimran Singh (42 off 23 balls, seven fours and a six) started off things well for the Kings.
Later, a half-century from skipper Shreyas Iyer (82 in 36 balls, inclusive of six fours and six sixes) and a final flourish from Marcus Stoinis (34* off 11 balls, a four and four sixes) powered Punjab Kings to 245 for 6 in their 20 overs.
Harshal Patel (4/42) and Eshan Malinga (2/45) were among SRH’s wicket-takers.
In the run-chase of 246 runs, Abhishek (141 off 55 balls, including 14 fours and 10 sixes) and Head (66 off 37 balls, nine fours and three sixes) produced a 171-run stand.
After Head was dismissed, Abhishek continued to rage while Heinrich Klaasen (21*) and Ishan Kishan (9*) applied the finishing touches as they completed the second-highest run chase in IPL history.
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