IPL final, RCB vs SRH: Warner's men create history, Sunrisers champions

Mumbai: Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by eight runs to clinch maiden IPL title at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.

RCB innings

RCB 200/7; Baby 18, Abdullah 4

20th over: Bhuvi with the last over, Baby on strike. RUN OUT! Jordan has to depart. RCB could not cross the line here.

RCB 191/6; Baby 15, Jordan 2

19th over: RUN OUT! Binny presses for two and falls short. DROPPED! Jordan tries to go for the big one, Sran drops him. Warner is throwing himself around on the field. What a show from the SRH skipper! SIX! Baby keeps RCB in the hunt.

RCB 179/5; Baby 7, Binny 8

18th over: This is getting difficult, Bhuvi bowls a tight over, concedes one four. Binny looking to play the scoop shot but taking his eyes off the ball at the last minute.

RCB 172/5; Baby 2, Binny 7

17th over: Brilliant yorker to start the over, Mustafizur does his best. WICKET! Watson (11) hits up in the air, Henriques holds on it. SIX! Stuart Binny walks in and slams the ball straight into the stands.

RCB 162/4; Baby 0, Watson 9

16th over: Cutting cleans up Rahul (11), this is getting difficult for RCB gradually. Sachin Baby is the new batsman.

RCB 158/3; Watson 7, Rahul 10

15th over: Watson slams a straight six over the head off Henriques. But now the required rate is again 10 an over.

RCB 149/3; Rahul 8, Watson 0

14th over: Sharma gets the precious wicket of AB de Villiers (5). With three of the top order batsmen dismissed, can RCB pull it back from here? Shane Watson is the new batsman.

RCB 141/2; AB 4, Rahul 5

13th over: And that's another half-century from Kohli, he brings it up with a six off Sran. WICKET OF THE DAY! Kohli dismissed for 54, Sran's delivery kisses his stumps. KL Rahul is the new batsman.

RCB 129/1; Kohli 44, AB 4

12th over: Bipul Sharma introduced into the attack, terrific cricketing shot by Kohli for four runs. Nine runs off the over.

RCB 120/1; Kohli 38, AB 0

11th over: Difficult chance for Mustafizur, he almost caught Kohli. WICKET! Gayle mistimes Cutting, gives an easy catch but he already did the damage. Big wicket for SRH, the big man goes for 76 off 38 balls. Kohli is banking on his placements and stealing fours.

RCB 112/0; Kohli 31, Gayle 75

10th over: Mustafizur into the attack and Kohli finds a boundary. SIX! for Kohli. It looks like RCB is desperate to bring down the required rate. At this rate, they might finish the match within 19 overs.

RCB 100/0; Kohli 20, Gayle 74

9th over: Kohli is lucky, the ball falls short of Warner and he gets four runs. The skipper has moved to 20 off 20 balls. SIX! Number seven for Gayle, he had a quiet tournament but this seems to be his day. Number eight! Four runs and 100 comes up for RCB.

SRH 79/0; Kohli 15, Gayle 58

8th over: Cutting, whose batting effort, helped SRH cross the 200-run mark is starting his spell. If he manages a couple of wickets, it will be his night. WHACK! Sixth six from Gayle. Cutting receives special treatment.

STRATEGIC TIME OUT

RCB 69/0; Kohli 13, Gayle 51

7th over: Gayle starts Henriques' over with a six and reaches his half-century off 25 balls. RCB is going more than 10 an over, exactly keeping up to the required rate. Kohli is still quiet which is a good approach. Kohli is dealing in singles.

RCB 59/0; Kohli 10, Gayle 44

6th over: Warner hands over the ball to Mustafizur. It will be interesting to see Gayle's approach against the Bangladesh pace sensation.

RCB 55/0; Kohli 7, Gayle 43

5th over: Gayle plays the upper cut to steal another six, this time off Cutting. It was an easy stroke for the big man. Four runs off the second ball and that's the 50-run partnership between Kohli and Gayle. The skipper has contributed only 5 runs.

RCB 42/0; Kohli 5, Gayle 32

4th over: OUCH! Straight into the crowd, Gayle is in the mood. Sran is clueless. Sran makes a comeback with a slower ball. FOUR! SIX! Sixteen off the over, Gayle is hammering it.

RCB 26/0; Kohli 5, Gayle 16

3rd over: Bhuvi trying to bowl short and bowls wide. There is one man in the deep backward square leg, he is trying to make Kohli play the pull shot. Gayle is looking dangerous on a day he needs to, four more runs.

RCB 18/0; Kohli 4, Gayle 11

2nd over: Gayle starts the proceedings, six runs off Sran. There is a slip and a gully in place for the Jamaican.

RCB 5/0; Kohli 4, Gayle 1

1st over: Gayle and Kohli are out in the middle, they need to score more than 10 an over to get the job done tonight. Bhuvi is steaming in with the new ball. Kohli takes a chance, and he takes advantage of no slip in place - four runs.

We will be back with RCB innings shortly.

RCB need 209 off 120 balls. The star-studded RCB batting line-up needs to step up.

SRH innings

SRH 208/7; Cutting 39, Bhuvi 1

20th over: Four runs off the first ball, 200 in sight for SRH. Cutting is the man who can get them to 200. WOW! Massive six, Cutting gets the elevation and smashes it out of the ground. Another six, 200 comes up for SRH. He finishes with another six, 39 off 15 balls.

SRH 184/7; Cutting 16, Bhuvi 0

19th over: Cutting and Bipul Sharma will aim for 200 here but it looks difficult with Jordan around. Sharma slices away Jordan for four runs to take the score to 174. It was a poor delivery, outside the off stump. OUT! Sharma (5) has to go, the change in length worked for Jordan who picked up his third wicket.

SRH 168/6; Cutting 10, Sharma 0

18th over: Terrible mix-up here, Ojha (7) is run out. Cutting is going hard at the ball now. Watson is not having a good day with the ball tonight.

SRH 156/5; Cutting 0, Ojha 7

17th over: Yuvraj departs for 38, Jordan with the act. This will make a difference of at least 20 runs towards the end. Naman Ojha is the new man.

SRH 147/4; Yuvraj 38, Cutting 0

16th over: Aravind continues his spell, he has been impressive tonight. He also bagged the wicket of Warner. WOW! Aravind ends his spell with a wicket, Hooda (3) hits the ball straight at Kohli. The change of pace worked for the left-arm bowler.

SRH 140/3; Yuvraj 32, Hooda 2

15th over: Yuvraj takes on Chahal, he smashed the spinner for a six and a four in back-to-back deliveries. Yuvraj has quickly moved to 32 off 19.

SRH 127/3; Yuvraj 20, Hooda 1

14th over: Warner sends the low full toss for four runs and finds Abdullah in the very next delivery off Aravind. The SRH skipper goes for 69 off 38 balls, the magnificent innings comes to an end. Deepak Hooda is the new batsman.

SRH 120/2; Warner 65, Yuvraj 18

13th over: Tight over by Chahal, much needed for RCB. Only four runs off it.

SRH 116/2; Warner 63, Yuvraj 16

12th over: Yuvraj uses his feet and flicks the Jordan delivery to the boundary for four runs. WOW! SIX! Yuvraj at his best. The memories of 2007 coming back. What an incredibly well-timed shot!

SRH 103/2; Warner 62, Yuvraj 5

11th over: Watson brought back into the attack, Yuvraj is the new man in. The former Australian all-rounder picked up 20 wickets in this season. What a beautiful drive by Yuvraj to bring up the 100 for Sunrisers.

SRH 97/2; Warner 61, Yuvraj 0

10th over: Chris Jordan comes into the attack and that's four runs. There is no stopping Warner tonight. He is dealing in boundaries, this is absolute carnage at Chinnaswamy Stadium. Warner off strike and Henriques (4) mistimes the ball, finds Chahal.

SRH 88/1; Warner 52, Henriques 4

9th over: Chahal continues and there is no stopping Warner. Four runs. He is inching towards another half-century. The Aussie is timing the ball beautifully. Abdullah misfields, the pressure is showing on RCB. And that's it, Warner records his ninth half-century.

SRH 75/1; Warner 41, Henriques 3

8th over: Warner continues his purple run, six off Abdullah. He has taken off his helmet and his intentions are clear. Ten runs off the over, Warner moves to 41 off 20 balls.

SRH 65/1; Warner 33, Henriques 1

7th over: Chahal starts his spell, this will be interesting now. WICKET! Dhawan (28) sweeps him and finds Jordan in the deep. First wicket down for Sunrisers. Henriques is the new batsman.

STRATEGIC TIME OUT

SRH 59/0; Dhawan 25, Warner 31

6th over: Gayle continues, and that's 50-up for Sunrisers. Thirteen off the over. What a start to their innings!

SRH 46/0; Dhawan 20, Warner 24

5th over: Six off the first ball, Warner welcomes Watson into the attack in his own style. WOW! Dhawan slams him for another six in the third ball. Good over for SRH. Warner at it again, four off the second last delivery as well.

SRH 27/0; Dhawan 13, Warner 12

4th over: Tight over by Gayle despite conceding a boundary. Dhawan trying to break free here.

SRH 21/0; Dhawan 8, Warner 11

3rd over: Aravind continues; Dhawan isn't looking comfortable tonight. He has already faced 10 deliveries but hasn't been able to time them to perfection. First boundary for Warner, he follows it up with another one to end the over.

SRH 12/0; Dhawan 7, Warner 10

2nd over: Chris Gayle starts the second over, interesting move by Kohli. The right-arm off-break may just work against the left-handers in the middle. Two back-to-back dot balls. Gayle almost caught Dhawan, but it was a tough one.

SRH 7/0; Dhawan 5, Warner 2

1st over: Sreenath Aravind to start the proceedings for RCB, this is also the 100th IPL match for SRH skipper David Warner. Warner off the mark in the first ball. The outfield is expected to be a quick one. Aravind almost stole a nick off the Australian while the latter was looking to cut it through the third man area. Four runs for Dhawan, seven off the first over.

Sunrisers Hyderbad skipper David Warner won the toss and elected to bat first.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) skipper David Warner and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli are similar in nature. They don’t mince words in the middle, both are aggressive and match winners. If Kohli scored four hundreds to take RCB to the final, Warner’s unbeaten 93 is no less against Gujarat Lions in the second qualifier. It will be interesting who will have the last laugh in the final of the ninth edition of IPL at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Kohli and Warner in the same frame, sharing a joke, is a sight for the cricketing world keeping in mind the altercation between the India Test skipper and the Australians during the tour Down Under in 2014 and the limited-overs series earlier this year.

Let’s have a look at the team combination ahead of the final clash.

On pen and paper, RCB are a stronger side with Chris Gayle, Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson; Chris Jordan is the fourth foreign player who has been instrumental in the death overs.

Yuzvendra Chahal – who earned his maiden Team India call-up – is one of the spinners to watch out for; he already has 20 scalps under his belt.

When Watson saw the top-order delivering with the ball, he started picking up wickets. He is second in the Purple Cap list, led by SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar (23 wickets) with 20 wickets.

Gayle found his form back and could be dangerous against any opposition. But Kohli and de Villiers’ wickets will be the ones that can change the fortune of the match for SRH.

On the other hand, SRH discovered utility in all-rounder Bipul Sharma whose death over heroics with the bat, and spin bowling, is turning out well for the team.

Trent Boult played his first game on Friday. He was terrific on the field (one catch, one run out) but leaked 40 in his four overs for one wicket. It will be interesting if SRH retains him.

Warner and Shikhar Dhawan will be expected to provide a brisk start, middle order looks solid with Moises Henriques and Yuvraj Singh.

Squads

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (C), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Shane Watson, KL Rahul, Sachin Baby, Varun Aaron, Abu Nechim, Sreenath Aravind, Stuart Binny, Yuzvendra Chahal, Travis Head, Iqbal Abdullah, Kedar Jadhav, Chris Jordan, David Wiese, Akshay Karnewar, Sarfaraz Khan, Vikramjeet Malik, Mandeep Singh, Parveez Rasool, Harshal Patel, Kane Richardson, Tabraiz Shamshi, Vikas Tokas, Praveen Dubey.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (C), Shikhar Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh, Moises Henriques, Eoin Morgan, Deepak Hooda, Naman Ojha, Karn Sharma, Mustafizur Rahman, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Barinder Sran, Trent Boult, Ben Cutting, Kane Williamson, Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Siddarth Kaul, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vijay Shankar, T Suman, Aditya Tare.