IPL 2025: How tribute for Orange Army was catalyst for Abhishek Sharma

Hyderabad: It’s not that Abhishek Sharma looked out of form even if his first five innings in this year’s IPL produced only 51 runs. A hint of self-doubt, perhaps. Premonition that it was his day, maybe. Or he just needed a slice of fortune.
It could be all of that or nothing. What, however, transpired was that Abhishek woke up on Saturday, shook off the dust that coincided with Sunrisers Hyderabad’s four losses on the trot, decided that it would be his day and that of the Orange Army’s, and pummelled Punjab Kings into submission by chasing down the second highest total in IPL history.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel.
“Usually, I wake up and write something. Today I had a random thought that if I do something, it will be for the Orange Army. Luckily, today was my day,” explained Abhishek about the note he held aloft — “This one is for Orange Army” — to thank the SRH faithful for their support after he raced to his maiden IPL century in 40 deliveries.
Admittedly, there was some pressure. Abhishek had scores of 24, 6, 1, 2 and 18 before he turned up against Punjab and wreaked havoc with a level of sustained aggression not seen since the days of Chris Gayle’s 175* and Brendon McCullum’s 158*. And at a strike rate of 256.36 despite being unwell in the lead-up to the match.

“I’d be lying if I say no, especially after losing four games. And I was sick. I had temperature. But I feel lucky to have people like Yuvraj (Singh) and Suryakumar (Yadav) around me. They were continuously calling me because they knew I could do something like this. When someone like them believes in you, obviously you start believing again. It was just a matter of one innings for me. In the previous matches it didn’t happen. And I’m glad everything worked for me today.”
The 24-year-old made his own luck during the 55-ball 141 (14x4, 10x6) at the expense of a thunderstruck Punjab Kings attack — skipper Shreyas Iyer used eight bowlers — that looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on a night of records.
He was dropped by Marcus Stoinis when on 4, caught off a no-ball by Impact player Yash Thakur on 28 and Yuzvendra Chahal dropped what could have been a brilliant caught and bowled chance when Abhishek was on 56.
Abhishek’s 141 is the highest by an Indian in IPL and the highest score by an SRH batter. And thanks to the left-handed opener, SRH recorded their eighth consecutive win at home over PBKS, the joint longest winning streak for any team at one ground.
A key player for SRH since he joined them from Delhi Capitals in 2019, Abhishek is one of the six players retained by the Hyderabad outfit and knows well that his partnership with Travis Head holds the key to his team’s fortunes – like their 171-run opening stand against Punjab that nearly obliterated the 185-run partnership between David Warner and Jonny Bairstow against RCB in 2019.
“Whenever we did something as partners for the team, we’ve been a winning side. So, we knew if we give a start, it will happen. If you see me and Travis complementing each other, that’s one of the biggest positives,” said the SRH lad with two T20I centuries and a 28-ball hundred for Punjab in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.