The match in a tweet: It was 'The Davey Warner Show' in Hyderabad. The Orange Army skipper leads the Sunrisers to their first win of the season.
The hero: David Warner once again showed why he is one of most dynamic opening batsmen the world has seen. The pocket rocket launched the second ball he faced into the crowd with a fierce square cut to start the fireworks. Fed short balls by the Mumbai bowlers, Warner cut and pulled at will, hitting four sixes and seven fours on his way to an unbeaten 90. But it was Warner’s ability to siege the right moment that was the catalyst of his innings. With Sunrisers requiring 73 off 54 Warner hit veteran spinner, Harbhajan Singh for two crucial boundaries to change the tempo. Then once he sensed his team had the ascendency Warner went berserk scoring his last 49 from 22 to guide his team home.
The support cast: With 30 balls remaining in the Mumbai innings and the score reading 4-111 it looked like the Sunrisers will be chasing a score close to 155-160. But Bhuveneshwar Kumar, Mustafizur Rahman and Barinder Sran executed perfect yorkers to concede only 31 in the last five overs. Between the three of them they conceded only one boundary in last four overs in a fine exhibition of death bowling. Sran would finish with figures of 4-0-28-3 but it was Rahman and Kumar death bowling that made a massive difference.
The consolation effort: Batting at five with the score 4-72 in the 14th over, Krunal Pandya watched in relief as Shikar Dhawan running back from cover spilled the catch. Four of the next five balls from left-arm spinner, Bipul Sharma were clobbered out of the park, three of them hit by Pandya himself. Pandya would go on to play a cameo of 49 from just 28 but unfortunately he didn’t have enough mates on the day.
The tactics: The Indians bowler’s tactics of banging the ball into the pitch to Warner went pear-shaped as the Aussie hammered 34 runs including six boundaries from the short ball. Given that the ball swung into the 11th over for Mumbai, it was bewildering sight from the likes of Southee, McClenaghan and Pandya continuing to test Warner with the short ball.
The moments: Warner had raced to 18 off 9 balls when Southee deceived him with a slower ball that Warner lobbed in the air wide of Rohit Sharma at mid-off. The Mumbai skipper dived full stretched to his right got both hands on it but spilled it as he hit the ground. Couple of overs later Warner got another reprieve as wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel missed a tough leg-side stumping off Harbhajan Singh when he was 22. Both were extremely difficult chances but Mumbai will rue the fact they were offered by Warner before he had got into his groove.
The stat: Rohit Sharma has now been involved in 26 run-outs, the most in IPL history.
The shot: Facing just his second ball of the innings Warner picked up the short ball early and hit it 20 rows back in the crowd over point. After watching several replays Simon Doull commentating on air said what we were all thinking: "How you can hit the ball that far over point is beyond me."
The next stop: Mumbai will now head back to home turf and the Wankhede Stadium and try and register their first win at home against Bangalore while the Sunrisers take on the undefeated Gujarat Lions in Rajkot.
IPL 2016
| Team | P | W | L | T | NR | RR | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gujarat Lions | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.714 | 6 |
| 2 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.995 | 4 |
| 3 | Delhi Daredevils | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.249 | 4 |
| 4 | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.901 | 2 |
| 5 | Rising Pune Supergiants | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.338 | 2 |
| 6 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -0.672 | 2 |
| 7 | Mumbai Indians | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -0.880 | 2 |
| 8 | Kings XI Punjab | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -1.101 | 2 |