David Warner hits unbeaten 93
Saturday 28 May 2016 10:31, UK
David Warner hit 93 not out as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Gujarat Lions by four wickets to reach the IPL final.
The Aussie opener hit the winning runs with four balls to spare, finishing seven short of a century from just 58 balls.
The Sunrisers had restricted Gujarat to 162-7 in their 20 overs and despite Warner's heroics the match remained in the balance until Warner and Bipul Sharma took 19 off the penultimate over to all but win the match.
Victory sees the Sunrisers advance to face the much-fancied Royal Challengers Bangalore in Sunday's final.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar had struck in the first over of the match for the Sunrisers, having Eklavya Dwivedi caught at third man by Trent Boult.
Boult, in the side in place of the injured Mustafizur Rahman, soon had a wicket of his own, trapping Suresh Raina (1) lbw to leave Gujarat 19-2 in the fourth over. Brendon McCullum remained though and they reached 38-2 at the end of the powerplay.
Having taken a while to get going, Dinesh Karthik looked to kick on in the ninth over but after a let off from Ben Cutting, who let the ball slip through his fingers and go over the rope for six, a direct hit from Boult saw the No 4 run out.
Aaron Finch was then given a chance as Barinder Sran put down a steepler at short fine leg. However, there was no luck for McCullum (32) when he skied one later in the over, Kumar pouching the catch on the cover boundary.
Dwayne Smith was the new batsman but he departed in the following over, picking out the boundary fielder to give Cutting his first wicket.
At 83-5 after 13, the pressure was on Finch and Ravi Jadeja to get the Lions up to a competitive total and the former soon went about doing just that - hitting two fours and an enormous six to bring up the 100 in the 14th over.
The Aussie brought up his half-century, from 31 balls, in the 18th over but was bowled the very next ball by Cutting to bring Dwayne Bravo to the crease with Gujarat 134-6.
The West Indian made 20 from 10 balls before he was bowled by Kumar in the final over as Gujarat ended the innings on 162-7, Jadeja with 19 from 15.
Warner found the boundary off the first ball of the chase but Shikhar Dhawan was then brilliantly run out in the second over to hand the Sunrisers an early setback.
Warner was unfazed and crunched Praveen Kumar away to the fence to go past 700 runs for the tournament while Moises Henriques got his innings up and running with a pair of well-struck boundaries. The No 3 fell soon after though, carelessly driving Smith's first ball to Dwivedi at cover.
Yuvraj Singh (8) was the next man to go, caught at long off - Shivil Kaushik (2-22) with the wicket - to leave the Sunrisers 61-3.
Deepak Hooda (4) and Ben Cutting (8) then fell in quick succession but Warner powered on and reached his 50 from 35 balls.
The Sunrisers skipper continued to score at a good rate and looked to have found a partner to help him see his side home, in Naman Ojha. However, having smashed one big six, Ojha tried to repeat the trick but picked out the man on the midwicket boundary.
That left Hyderabad needing 45 from 24 balls to reach the final with Warner 74 not out from 48.
Sharma, batting at eight, ably assisted Warner and flicked a six over square leg as the pair chipped away at the Lions' total before another maximum from Sharma (27 not out) left the Sunrisers needing just five from the final over.
Warner carved the first ball of the over through the offside for four and a repeat shot sealed the win.
