New Delhi: With so much of the focus on their successful fast bowling attack, it is often overlooked that Sunrisers Hyderabad can bat too, even if they only have one real batsman, their in-form captain David Warner. Rising on his broad shoulders, they have both set totals and chased down targets, and on Friday at the Kotla, they did it again by overhauling Gujarat Lions' 162 with four wickets and four balls in hand in Qualifier 2 of the IPL.
Warner, second only to the imperious Virat Kohli in the scoring aggregates this year, led from the front with an unbeaten 93 (58b, 12x4, 3x6) that mixed caution with aggression in equal parts as he lost partners in a steady stream.
Even with all his abilities, Warner needed a helping hand, which came in the form of left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma's breezy 27 not out off 11 balls that included three cleanly hit sixes under immense pressure. In 21 balls, the pair put on 46 runs to send the Lions packing.
The near full house at the Kotla took Warner to their hearts, chanting his name and cheering his every run as the Eagles incled closer by the ball. It took two big overs of 19 runs each, to pave the way, and fittingly, Warner finished it off with a boundary and a single off Dhawal Kulkarni.
For their part, the Lions made the most of the unorthodox left-arm chinaman bowler Shivli Kaushik (2/22), who confounded and befuddled with his twirlers, but in the end, it was not enough to stop the rampant Warner .
Oh, and by the way, both Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh did not trouple the scorers unduly, the Lions skipper dismissed for one, and the Eagles star getting eight. Earlier, the Lions, still looking a little punch-drunk from the four-run defeat at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore four days ago, were made to work for their runs.
Had it not been for an outstanding even 50 from stocky Australian Aaron Finch batting further down the order than usual, and smaller contributions from Brendon McCullum (32) and Dinesh Karthik (26), the Lions may well not even have reached their eventual total of 162/7.
They were helped along by some poor fielding and catching by the Eagles, Barinder Sran spilling Finch before the batsman had reached the 20s in the 13th over and runs leaking all around the park and allowing batsmen to improve their tallies significantly.
It still took a late flourish from Dwayne Bravo to push them across the 150 mark, the West Indian laying into the match-rusty Trent Boult in the 19th over though Finch had taken Moises Henriques and Sran to the cleaners.
