David takes Lions to task
Captain Warner leads from the front to carry Hyderabad past Gujarat into IPL final
Superman AB de Villiers did it the other night for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. And on Friday night, it was the turn of Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner. With his team staring down the barrell, the explosive Australian opener coshed an unbeaten 93 to stage one of the greatest escapes and see his side through to the title tilt of the ninth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Half the Sunrisers Hyderabad batting line-up were back in the dug-out and they cut a sorry figure at 84 for five, in pursuit of 163. But the ruthless southpaw first joined forces with Naman Ojha to add 33 for the sixth wicket and then put a match-winning stand of an unbeaten 46 with Bipul Sharma for the seventh wicket to see them home by four wickets. They will now face Bangalore in the final on Sunday.
Warner’s knock was constructed from 58 balls and was studded with 11 boundaries and three sixes, with his last two boundaries sealing the match for the Sunrisers. But credit must also go to Punjab all-rounder Bipul Sharma with the left-hander being the perfect support act with an unbeaten 27 from 11 balls with three massive sixes. Despite a fighting half century by Aaron Finch, Sunrisers Hyderabad did well to restrict Gujarat Lions to 162 for seven.
Finch added 51 runs in just 4.5 overs with Ravindra Jadeja (19 not out) when Lions were gasping at 83 for five in 12.5 overs after being invited to bat on a decent batting track at Feroze Shah Kotla ground.
Scoreboard Sharma 3-0-21-1, B Cutting 3-0-20-2, M Henriques 3-0-27-0. D Warner not out S Dhawan run out (McCullum) M Henriques c Dwivedi b Smith Yuvraj Singh c Smith b Kaushik D Hooda lbw b Bravo B Cutting c Karthik b Kaushik N Ojhac Jadeja b Bravo Bipul Sharma not out
(lb 1, w 1) 2 B Kumar, B Sran, T Boult. 1-6, 2-33, 3-61, 4-75, 5-84, 6-117. P Kumar 3.2-0-32-0 (1w), D Kulkarni 4-0-32-0, D Smith 2-0-29-1, S Raina 2-0-15-0, S Kaushik 4-0-22-2, D Bravo 4-0-32-2.
E Dwivedi c Boult b Kumar B McCullum c Kumar b Bipul Sharma S Raina lbw b Boult D Karthik run out (Boult) A Finch b Cutting D Smith c Dhawan b Cutting R Jadeja not out D Bravo b Kumar D Kulkarni not out
(w 5) P Kumar, S Kaushik. 1-7, 2-19, 3-63, 4-81, 5-83, 6-134, 7-158. B Kumar 4-0-27-2 (2w), T Boult 4-0-39-1 (2w), B Sran 3-0-28-0 (1w), Bipul
Finch scored runs when Lions found the going tough with Sunrisers bowlers taking wickets intermittently, never allowing Gujarat to get the momentum.
Finch, who enjoyed one life, took 32 balls for his 50-run knock that had seven fours and two sixes. Brendon McCullum contributed a 29-ball 32 while Dwayne Bravo played a useful 20-run cameo towards the end.
Sunrisers bowlers did a superb job but they missed Mustafizur Rahman, who sat out due to a niggle, in the death overs. His replacement Trent Boult was clearly rusty, bowling a lot of full tosses. The Kiwi conceded 39 runs in his four overs. David Warner smartly used his bowlers, who had control over the proceedings for the most part of the contest. Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave away 27 runs in four overs and took two wickets while Ben Cutting (220) also scalped two batsmen.
Eklavya Dwivedi (5), who had hit some lusty blows in Qualifier 1 while batting down the order, was promoted to open on Friday but he could not do much, getting dismissed in the first over off Bhuvneshwar. — Agencies