The left-hander, previously without a six this season, smashed six on his way to a 40-ball century that floored PBKS. He then added a few more after celebrating his landmark with a note: “This one is for the Orange Army.”

Abhishek’s maiden IPL century – the highest score by an Indian – stole the spotlight, but Harshal Patel’s 4 for 42 was just as crucial, helping cut PBKS short by at least 20 runs from what they seemed set to score. It was only their second loss of the season, made worse by an injury to key pacer Lockie Ferguson.

Coming off scores of 18, 2, 1, and 6, Abhishek hit the ground running with three consecutive fours off Marco Jansen in the second over of the chase. Head followed suit by giving similar treatment to Arshdeep Singh, peppering the ball to different pockets.

Abhishek got a lifeline on 28 when Yash Thakur, who came on as an Impact Sub for Nehal Wadhera, overstepped and had him slice a catch to deep point. Abhishek capitalized on the free-hit with his first six of the season, sparking the explosion.

PBKS’s woes deepened as Ferguson walked off clutching his hip two balls into his spell, and when Yuzvendra Chahal dropped Abhishek off his own bowling on 57, the wheels had truly come off. Abhishek punished him with a six next ball, as SRH stormed to 100 by the eighth over.

Having watched the carnage from the other end, Head pummelled Glenn Maxwell for back-to-back sixes as SRH were halfway to their target inside the ninth over of their chase. The carnage bubbled over into full-blown tension when Maxwell let out a few fiery words to Head, with Marcus Stoinis playing mediator.

Among all the big sixes Abhishek hit, a strong bottom-handed helicopter shot off former team-mate Marco Jansen stood out. This six off an attempted yorker was a follow-up to a short ball on the body which Abhishek managed to pummel over deep square. He ended the over with back-to-back fours, ridiculously scooping and picking off length balls behind the wicketkeeper.

By the time PBKS had a wicket, when Chahal had Head holing out to Maxwell at long-on, the muted celebration told you the story of a team that had already been deflated. Abhishek raised his century four balls later as the Orange Army stood up and applauded.

Abhishek would hit five more sixes after bringing up his maiden IPL century, and when he fell in the 17th over to good friend and Punjab team-mate Arshdeep, there was widespread applause from both the crowd and the opponents.

Heinrich Klaasen and Ishan Kishan then saw off the chase with nine balls to spare.

A 36-ball 82 from Shreyas Iyer and an early turbocharge from Priyansh Arya that helped raise the joint-fastest half-century of the season helped set up the game.

PBKS threatened to blaze past 250 halfway into the innings, but then appeared to fall well short of that mark as Harshal picked up the big wickets of Shreyas and Glenn Maxwell in a gun 18th over – he finished with 4 for 42.

Then Marcus Stoinis, who hadn’t made much of an impact with the bat, got stuck into Mohammed Shami, hitting him for four consecutive sixes in the final over that went for 27 as PBKS finished with 245 for 6. Shami’s figures read a forgettable 4-0-75-0, his most expensive spell.

Generally used at the death, Harshal was brought on early to try and stem the run flow, and he delivered in his very first over, the fourth, when he had Arya hack an off-cutters to the longer leg-side boundary with Nitish Reddy taking the skier at mid-on.

But his real impact was in the last six overs. Coming on for his third, in the 15th, he foxed the dangerous Shashank Singh with an offcutter that trapped him lbw in a nine-run over.

Then off the 18th, with PBKS looking for a lift-off, he had a struggling Maxwell bowled off a dipping slower ball as he attempted a reverse ramp, and then Iyer two balls later when he took all the pace off to have him lob one to point in trying to hit the ball over the infield.

In between Harshal’s heroics, Eshan Malinga, the Sri Lankan seamer, gave a good account of himself on debut to pick up two wickets.

Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 247 for 2 in 18.3 overs  (Abhishek sharma 141, Travis Head 66, Heinrich Klassen 21*; Arshdeep Singh 1-37, Yuzendra Chahal 1-56) beat Punjab Kings 245 for 6  in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 82, Prabhsimran Singh 42, Priyansh Arya 36, Nehal Wadhera 27, Marcus Stoinis 34*; Harshal Patel 4-42, Eshan Malinga 2-45) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]