IPL 9: David Warner heroics props up Hyderabad

Sunrise Hyderabad’s David Warner en route to his 92 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL match in Hyderabad on Saturday. (Photo: P. Surendra)

Warner walloped. The dark horses galloped. That was pretty much the first half of the race between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore in which the hosts put up a smashing total —194/5 — on Saturday night.

The clouds turned dark, intermittent drizzle delayed the game by an hour. Then, it was Orange all the way. Warner led from the front, nailing 92 in just 50 balls while Kiwi captain Kane Williamson caned 50 in 38 deliveries, seven of which went crashing to the boundary.

Moises Henriques then contributed a cameo (31 runs, 14 balls, 1x4, 3x6) that lifted the Eagles into the sky.

Sunrisers began cautiously. Warner glanced Kane Richardson for a boundary off the second ball before passing the baton to his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan, who preferred to go straight down the ground off Shane Watson for a steady start. He then took the aerial route to hit off-spinner Parvez Rasool who was pressed into the attack in the third over itself.

However, Dhawan soon played one too high on the bat to offer a return catch to Kane Richardson, who gleefully accepted the chance as the hosts lost their first wicket at 28 in the fourth over.

The Power Play period was relatively sedate until Kohli introduced Harshal Patel in the sixth over. Warner pounced on the pacer to take 16 runs off it, including a free hit six, as the home total read a decent 49/1 after six overs.

Thereafter, Kiwi Kane joined Warner and the scoring rate took to flight. The two upped the tempo and shifted gears to leave the Bangalore bunch baffled. Earlier, the Royal Challengers won the toss and decided to bowl.

Scoreboard Sunrisers Hyderabad: D. Warner c de Villiers b Shamsi 92, S. Dhawan c&b Richardson 11, K. Williamson c Rahul b Watson 50, M. Henriques (not out) 31, N. Ojha c de Villiers b Richardson 1, D. Hooda run out 2, A. Reddy (not out) 2. Extras: (lb 1, w 3, nb 1) 5. Total: (for 5 wkts, in 20 overs) 194 FoW: 1-28, 2-152, 3- 160, 4-161, 5-190. Bowling: Richardson 4-0-45-2, Watson 4-0-33-1 (1w), Rasool 4-0-33-0, Aaron 3-0-27-0 (1w), Patel 1-0-16-0 (1nb, 1w), Shamsi 4-0-39-1