Records tumble as SRH outmuscle Mumbai Indians in six-hitting festival
Hyderabad, Mar 27: Records tumbled as Sunrisers Hyderabad went on a rampage to post the highest ever IPL total of 277 for 3 against Mumbai Indians before sealing a 31-run victory in a power-hitting contest that left bowlers on
both sides befuddled.
SRH opener Travis Head (62 off 24) and number three Abhishek Sharma (63 off 23) came up with a sensational display of power-hitting that saw the latter snatching the franchise record for the fastest fifty from the Australian within minutes.
Heinrich Klaasen (80 not out off 34 balls) provided the fireworks in the end to help SRH break an 11-year-old record. The previous highest total in IPL was 263 for five achieved by Royal Challengers Bangalore back in 2013. It was also the highest total recorded in a T20 league.
Mumbai bowlers were left shell-shocked by SRH's six-hitting spree but their batters came out with a purpose and made a match out of what looked like a one way traffic at the innings break.
Eventually, they ended at 246 for five in 20 overs.
A record 38 sixes were plundered in the game and it was the first time 500 runs were scored in a T20 match.
"The wicket was good but 277, no matter how good or bad you bowl, if the opposition get 277 that means they batted very well. It was tough out there for bowlers. Close to 500 runs were scored so the wicket was helping the batters," MI skipper Hardik Pandya said after the match.
Chasing a mammoth 278, Rohit Sharma (26 off 12), in his 200th game for the franchise, played some sublime strokes and was well complemented by Ishan Kishan (34 off 13) who got some much needed runs.
Tilak Varma (64 off 34 balls) took the game deep with a high-quality knock, comprising half a dozen sixes. At 182 for three in 14 overs and seven wickets in hand, Mumbai Indians were on course for something special before succumbing to constant scoreboard pressure.
Tim David (42 not out off 22) tried his best towards the end but it was not enough.
Earlier, it was raining fours and sixes as Head and Sharma toyed with the Mumbai Indians attack after being put in to bat.
Head, who was surprisingly left out of the playing eleven for the opening game, reinforced his status as one of the most dangerous batters in the game with a whirlwind effort.
He broke David Warner's record of the fastest fifty by a SRH batter with a 18-ball half-century before Sharma surpassed Head's feat 20 balls later by reaching the milestone in 16 balls.
Head, who was dropped by compatriot Tim David at the start of his innings, opened his front leg and hit boundaries at will, collecting nine fours and three sixes in total.
The southpaw completed his fifty with an inside out four wide of mid-off before dispatching a bouncer from Gerald Coetzee for a six over deep midwicket, prompting opposition skipper Hardik Pandya to acknowledge the Australian's brutal assault.
When Head departed, Sharma went hammer and tongs, mostly targeting the cow corner region for his seven sixes and three boundaries.
It was a nightmarish start to the IPL for the 17-year-old South Africa pacer Kwena Maphaka, who made the Mumbai Indians squad at the back of his exploits in the U-19 World Cup.
He leaked as many as 66 runs in his four overs. The left-arm pacer could not recover from Head's onslaught in his second over in which he conceded 22 runs.
With the majority of the Mumbai bowlers taken to the cleaners, it was surprising that Mumbai Indians skipper Pandya waited till the 13th over to give Jasprit Bumrah his second over.
Following Sharma's dismissal, the in-form Klaasen ensured there was no stopping to the SRH's six hitting spree. Klaasen ended up with seven sixes with the maximum off a Bumrah bouncer standing out.
Klaasen had almost taken SRH over the line with his breathtaking knock against KKR at the Eden Gardens.
Former skipper Aiden Markram chipped in 42 off 28 balls.
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Egg-donation racket targeting poor women busted in Maharashtra's Thane; 3 held
Thane (PTI): Police have unearthed an egg-donation racket, suspected to be involving crores of rupees, that repeatedly exploited vulnerable women in Maharashtra's Thane district, officials said.
The victims were offered Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per cycle and repeatedly used as egg donors, resulting in physical exploitation. They were taken to IVF centres where the eggs were surgically extracted and sold for lakhs, they said, adding that so far, 20 women are believed to have fallen prey to the racket.
Three women have been arrested in connection with the illegal trade operating out of a residential apartment and a sonography centre at Joveli in Badlapur East, the police officials said on Saturday.
Egg donation is a fertility procedure where a woman provides eggs for another person to conceive, usually via IVF (in vitro fertilisation). The donor undergoes screening and hormone treatment, eggs are retrieved, fertilised, and transferred to the recipient.
The arrested persons have been identified as Sulakshana Gadekar (44), Ashwini Chabukswar (29), and Manjusha Wankhede (46).
Following a tip-off from a victim to Thane Sub-District Hospital's Chief Medical Officer Dr Jyotsna Sawant, a raid was recently conducted at Gadekar’s residence in Nano City building, the police said.
“We recovered photos of injections used in connection with pregnancy, sonography reports, affidavits with false names, fake documents, and evidence of financial transactions on the mobile phones of the accused,” a police official said.
The accused targeted needy women, paying them Rs 25,000 to 30,000 per cycle. The victims were allegedly administered hormonal injections to increase egg production and were repeatedly used as donors, leading to physical exploitation, the official said.
“The process involved injecting the women to stimulate egg production and taking them for sonography. Once the eggs were ready, the victims were sent to IVF centres where the eggs were surgically extracted and sold for lakhs of rupees,” the official added.
Ulhasnagar Deputy Commissioner of Police Sachin Gore said that more than 20 women might have fallen victim to this racket so far.
“The racket was previously operating in Vangani before shifting to Badlapur recently. We are investigating the involvement of IVF centres, doctors, and hospitals. High-profile names are likely to surface as the turnover of this illegal trade is estimated to be in crores,” Gore said.
A case has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, the police added.
