Travis Head was on strike, the batters' happy hours were still on, and he had the license to get greedy for more. With 75 runs on the board, both openers still in the middle, and two balls still remaining to wrap up the Powerplay - it was the kind of start that Sunrisers Hyderabad like to manufacture on a sub-par day.
This compulsive need to take quick control makes opposition teams twitchy while coming up against their top order. Stephen Fleming had admitted as much on the eve of the game, and in the quest to ensure that control wasn't lost, CSK even included Matthew Short, hoping the Australian's part-time offspin would keep SRH's left-handed trio in check.
The trick, as suggested by the match-up computers, seemed to work for a while - only 12 runs were scored off the bat in Short's first two overs. That reading would have been much better had the spinner not erred in his length and bowled one right into the slot for Abhishek Sharma, who tonked it over long on for a six.
Nonetheless, largely it was still a plan working for CSK till then. So, at the start of the fifth over, they stretched their luck and handed the offie another go at the left-handed openers. Head pulled one through mid wicket and turned the strike over. With the scoring rate of 9.5 requiring a surge, Abhishek upped the risk. He made room for himself and repeatedly hit against the turn and on the up, securing himself 24 runs off the next five balls, each of which crossed the boundary ropes - on the bounce or directly. The assault threw CSK off their plans, and Short out of the attack.
Within 15 balls, Abhishek had brought up another half-century, SRH had powered to another strong start, and CSK were suddenly looking listless. With only two balls left for the Powerplay to end, Head had all the license to maximise it. In a bid to hit Mukesh Choudhary over the infield, he mistimed a full-toss, and Ruturaj Gaikwad provided CSK the moment of magic his team was searching for - a fine, low diving catch, running towards his left from mid on - to end the partnership and seize back momentum.
All this while when Abhishek's carnage was going on, Head's rustiness had become a side note. Against Short, he managed only four runs off eight balls, and even as boundaries were raining for SRH, his innings itself had ended on 23 off 20.
In some ways, it was still one of the meatier knocks he has played over the last year and a half - only the 15th time in 32 innings when he has crossed the 20-run mark in T20s since the start of 2025.
There has been a marked drop in Head's returns since 2024, the season in which his early attack with Abhishek set new benchmarks for T20 batting. Since then, his numbers have dropped across all parameters. From the 2024 season to the current one, the boundary percentage has gone down from 31.43 to 26.73, the dot-ball percentage has shot up from 37.3 to 44.3, and the strike rate has reduced from 182.07 to 150.26.
Despite the drastic changes, none of these current figures are alarming enough to merit a breakdown. But when coupled with the falling average, which has slipped from 41.20 to 23.41, the bigger concerns for SRH start showing up. In 2024, Head had notched up 14 50-plus scores in T20s. This year, he has managed to go past that mark only once.
But that's not the only concern for SRH. It is merely the start of many worries that have plagued them. For a team that has banked on their batting muscle to set up victories, they have found themselves averaging only 202 every game this season. The concerns run deeper into inconsistencies and worrying patterns, led by the top order's inability to fire in unison.
What Head's lack of contribution and dropping scoring rates have done to the SRH line-up is pass the burden to the rest of the pack. Coincidentally, in this bid to sustain the early attack, SRH have found themselves in a position where Head's dismissal is followed or preceded by another wicket in quick succession. Such an occurrence is not surprising for the high-risk approach SRH takes, but the pattern - which has played out in five out of six games for SRH this season - has become worrisome, repeated against CSK as well when Ishan Kishan miscued a big hit off the first ball and was holed out right after Head's dismissal.
The quick strikes seize the momentum away from the start - if at all it was a powerful one, @L0$ - and put them in a quandary. They are forced to steady for a while, something they can ill-afford in their batting blueprint, or fear going bust, like they repeatedly did last season.
This successive fall of wickets is what Heinrich Klaasen, SRH's designated No. 4, has cited as the reason for him to measure his gameplans. Klaasen has been among the slowest starters in this IPL, striking at merely 106.66 in his first 10 deliveries. It is in this period where opponents are able to seize the momentum.
Citing the reason for his slow starts, Klaasen said, "I've been in situations where we have lost four wickets in one or two overs. So it's not like I can just tee off. If we lose [a wicket] there, then five wickets are down. So, [my slow starts] are not on purpose. I still need to get the job done. We got it done on a slow wicket here, where we were three [wickets down] after the powerplay. So that's why my strike rate is so low."
The exaggeration of the data he cited notwithstanding, Klaasen has found himself with the Orange Cap on his head, but at a strike rate of 144, which makes him the slowest in the competition among all batters who have scored at least 170 runs. In fact, among the top 35 highest-scoring batters this season, only Tristan Stubbs has gone slower than him.
Klaasen defended his approach, by adding, "I've been in difficult situations, and I have to take the responsibility, and be mature about it. You can't just tee off, that's not how the game works. We get paid to do that job. I don't care about the strike rates. I know there's a lot being said about my strike rate this season, but I've been putting my team in good positions, and I'm just doing my job."
As Chennai Super Kings put in a fighting display with the ball, and kept chipping away with wickets - which resulted in SRH having to secure the services of Liam Livingstone as the Impact Substitute instead of bolstering the bowling attack - Klaasen's 39-ball 59 remained instrumental in SRH posting a competitive total of 194 for 9 - the highest they have ever amassed against CSK.
But that would've possibly counted for little if Ayush Mhatre's innings had not been impacted by cramps. Against Chennai Super Kings, they just about found a way through with a separation of 10 runs, courtesy some disciplined bowling in the last quarter of the game with a bit of reverse swing for help. But it seems they are still searching for a version of themselves that can hold its shape across 20 overs, not just in bursts of brilliance. Until their most feared weapons fully bare their teeth, their strong starts will still carry some vulnerability and a question mark over where they might end; and maybe over time, lose the audacity to threaten oppositions.
