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