Sunrisers Hyderabad smash several records in IPL 2025 campaign opener

HYDERABAD: 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad wreaked havoc in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 campaign opener as they broke a plethora of records with their belligerent batting against Rajasthan Royals here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

Royals’ captain Riyan Parag’s decision of putting the Sunrisers into bat first backfired as the home side racked up 286/6 in the allotted 20 overs – the second-highest total in the league’s history.

Leading the way for the former champions was Ishan Kishan, who smashed an unbeaten 106 off just 47 balls with the help of 11 fours and six sixes.

Australia’s left-handed opener Travis Head set the tone with a quickfire 67 off 31 deliveries, laced with a dozen boundaries including three sixes, while Heinrich Klaasen gave the final touches with a 14-ball 34.

Their batters’ carnage left the Royals’ bowlers gasping, especially England international Jofra Archer, who conceded 76 runs in his four-over spell and went wicketless to register the worst bowling figures in the history of the league, surpassing Mohit Sharma’s 0/73 for Gujarat Titans from the previous edition.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad also became the first team to breach the 250-run barrier in T20s four times and went past both the India men’s cricket and English domestic side Surrey, who have 250-plus total thrice each.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad’s three other 250-plus scores came in the previous edition.

Furthermore, South Africa international Klaasen became the second-fastest to 1000 IPL runs as he amassed the milestone in just 594 balls, only behind West Indies’ Andre Russell, who conceded 545 balls to outpace the likes of Virender Sehwag, Glenn Maxwell and Yusuf Pathan.

When this story was filed, the Royals were 108/3 in nine overs while chasing 287 with Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel unbeaten on 48 and 38 respectively.