David Warner kept his love affair with the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad alive after he starred in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s five-run victory over Kings XI Punjab yesterday. After opting to bat and posting 185 runs on the board, SRH fought off a late charge by David Miller and restricted their opponents to 180-7. The win took SRH to fourth position in the Pepsi IPL 2015 standings, while KXIP continued to remain at the floor of the standings with just two wins from 12 matches.
Earlier in the evening, Warner was in his element and launched a relentless attack on the KXIP bowlers; he was severe on the short deliveries, making sure almost all of them found the boundary – he scored 81 from 51 balls, and hit six fours and five sixes. He was dismissed by Beuran Hendricks when he attempted to flick to a low full toss, but the ball came off the toe of the bat and lobbed to Gurkeerat Singh at midwicket. During the innings, Warner also went past Ajinkya Rahane’s aggregate of 461 runs in the tournament, and bagged the Orange Cap.
The SRH innings also had healthy contributions from Shikhar Dhawan (24 from 18 balls) and Moises Henriques (28 from 24 balls). Dhawan and Warner added 56 runs in the first six overs before the former was deceived by a flatter delivery bowled by Glenn Maxwell to be stumped. Warner and Henriques thereafter added 65 runs in 7.2 overs before the latter pulled a longhop from Gurkeerat Singh but found Anureet Singh at the boundary.
Eoin Morgan, batting at number four, opened his account with a six and followed it up with a second big hit. He raced to 17 from six balls before he holed out to Manan Vohra in the sixteenth over. SRH lost a bit of momentum after Warner’s dismissal at the start of the eighteenth over; from 157 for 4 when their captain was dismissed, SRH could only add a further 28 runs in 17 balls to finish their twenty overs at 185 for 5.
For KXIP, the left-arm quick Hendricks was the most successful bowler, returning figures of 2 for 40 from his four overs. The two off-spinners Gurkeerat Singh and Glenn Maxwell – bowled three overs each and returned with figures of 1-27 and 1-28 respectively.
In their run-chase, the KXIP batsmen struggled – as has been the story with them right through the season. Though the opening pair of Murali Vijay and Manan Vohra had provided a decent platform adding 42 runs, the middle order couldn’t kick on. The experiment to send Wriddhiman Saha to number three failed, while Glenn Maxwell struck one boundary and a six before he received a snorter from Trent Boult and edged to the wicket-keeper. By the time thirteen overs were bowled, half the KXIP side was back in the dressing room, with the score reading 83-5.
David Miller, who walked in to bat in the eighth over with the score reading 60 for 3, held fort until the end. The left-hander from South Africa batted on despite wickets falling at the other end, and turned on the heat in the final stretch of the innings. At the end of the 16th over, Miller had scored 32 from 25 balls, and KXIP needed to get 70 from 24 balls. That is when the devastating Miller that the world knows cut loose; the left-hander struck seven sixes and a four in the next 19 balls to give the KXIP chase a new life.
Needing to score 28 off the final over, Miller deposited the first two balls into the stands, before keeping out a yorker. The fourth ball took the outside edge of the bat and raced to the thirdman boundary, reducing the equation to 12 from the last two balls. The penultimate ball of the match was a full length delivery which didn’t fetch any runs. Though the last ball was hit into the stands at long on, that wouldn’t be still enough for KXIP as they finished six short. For Miller, who remained unbeaten on 89 from 44 balls and hit two fours and nine sixes, it was one of those unusual days where despite posting the highest score in the match and playing perhaps the best innings of the day, it still couldn’t lead the team to a win.
For the hosts, Moises Henriques turned out to be the wrecker-in-chief; the Australian was miserly conceding only 16 runs in his four overs while also picking up three wickets. The left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma, who dismissed both KXIP openers, returned figures of two for 13 from his two overs, while Trent Boult and Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked up a wicket each. (IPL website)
Brief Scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad (David Warner 81, Beuran Hendricks 2-40) beat Kings XI Punjab 180-7 in 20.0 Overs (David Miller 89*, Moises Henriques 3-16)
Man of the Match: David Warner, for his 52-ball 81.
