IPL 2026: Abhishek Sharma speaks about Travis Head's influence on his batting

Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head (Pic: File Pic)

The IPL 2026 match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) is all set to be played on Wednesday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Ahead of the match, SRH's swashbuckling opening batsman Abhishek Sharma spoke about Travis Head's influence on his batting.

"I have been following Travis Head's game for a year and a half before he joined SRH. I was happy when he became my teammate. The first thing I asked him was about his batting mindset. I admire how he performs in all three formats and dominates the bowling," he said on JioStar.

The left-handed batsman then revealed Head's game plan and said that he has been following it during the practice sessions.

"He told me his plan is simple: watch the ball closely, and if you feel you can hit the first delivery, go for it. I followed his advice in my practice before the IPL. Now, if the ball is in my slot, I look to hit it from the first ball," said Abhishek.

Currently, Abhishek is in the second position on the list of leading run-scorers of the ongoing edition of the cash-rich league. So far, he has scored 380 runs in eight matches.

The Sunrisers are also placed in the fourth position on the points table. Having played eight matches, the "Orange Army" has won five games and suffered defeats in three matches. The Sunrisers also have a net run rate (NRR) of +0.815 and 10 points.

IPL 2026, Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad: Full Squads

Mumbai Indians: Hardik Pandya (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Danish Malewar, Robin Minz (wk), Ryan Rickelton (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Atharva Ankolekar, Raj Bawa, Corbin Bosch, Will Jacks, Mayank Rawat, Naman Dhir, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Tilak Varma, Ashwani Kumar, Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Deepak Chahar, AM Ghazanfar, Mayank Markande, Mohammad Izhar, Raghu Sharma.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Harshal Patel, Jaydev Unadkat, Pat Cummins, Heinrich Klaasen (WK), Travis Head, Liam Livingstone, Ishan Kishan (WK), Kamindu Mendis, Brydon Carse, Zeeshan Ansari, Abhishek Sharma, Shivam Mavi, Jack Edwards, Harsh Dubey, Salil Arora (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Amit Kumar, Praful Hinge, Smaran Ravichandran, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain, Aniket Verma, Shivang Kumar, Krains Bhaveshbhai Fuletra, Omkar Tarmale.

(With ANI Inputs)