Hitting master-Klaasen: Bat, batter, best for SRH

Hyderabad post 277/3, highest-ever IPL total in victory over Mumbai

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

WHERE do you begin after witnessing a hitting display so coruscating the records kept tumbling like a pack of cards? In the end, Sunrisers Hyderabad finished with 277 in 20 overs, 14 better than Bengaluru's 263. But while that innings was built on the back of Chris Gayle's unbeaten 175 off 66 (the others, with a helping hand from extras, had made 88 from 56), this was collective brilliance on a surface where almost all bowlers contemplated a career change.

Here's a small sample. When Heinrich Klassen got to his 50 in the 18th over, it was the third slowest for the hosts. His 23-ball effort half-century had been left in the shadows thanks to what had come before (Abhishek Sharma had got his in 16 balls while Travis Head, on debut, raised his bat after 18). However, when the South African was done with the bat, he had almost caught up in terms of the strike rate (80 off 34 at 235).