David Warner’s power-packed performance complemented by excellent death bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar enabled Sunrisers Hyderbad record an emphatic 10-wicket victory over Gujarat Lions in a lopsided Indian Premier League encounter.
While Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4/29) helped Sunrisers restrict Gujarat Lions to 135/8 in 20 overs, skipper Warner continued his dream form as he plundered an unbeaten 74 off 48 balls with Sunrisers winning by a canter in only 14.5 overs. Warner had nine fours in his innings.
Shikhar Dhawan also showed signs of returning to form with an unbeaten 53 off 41 balls with five boundaries.
While Sunrisers won their second outing in four games, it was the first loss for the Suresh Raina-led outfit.
Skipper Raina hit a stroke-filled 75 but Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers showed a lot of discipline to restrict Gujarat Lions to a modest 135 for eight after putting the home team in to make first use of the wicket.
But whatever dreams they harboured of early breakthroughs turned into nightmare as Warner creamed the bowling with utter disdain notching up his third half-century in four matches.
His sequence of scores in the IPL read as: 58, 13, 90 no and 74 no. With 235 runs, Warner crossed KKR captain Gautam Gambhir as the current ‘Orange Cap’ holder in the league.
The 50 came off 29 balls with seven boundaries and he completely eased the pressure on a struggling Dhawan giving him ample time to get a few valuable runs under his belt.
Warner started with two boundaries off Dale Steyn’s bowling in the very first over. The first through third man and the next a slash over point.
He upped the ante in Praveen Kumar’s second over with successive cover drives and a straight hit past the bowler.
When a desperate Raina introduced himself into the attack, Warner also hit him for a couple of boundaries as runs flowed through his bat with ease. Dhawan at the other end was sensible enough to nudge around for the singles and give the skipper bulk of the strike.
The win came when Warner played a deft late cut off Ravindra Jadeja to finish the match in style.
As of today, save one game, all teams chasing have won their respective matches.
Feature image source: IPL