VIVO IPL T20 2016: David Warner – 'The Lone Warrior for SRH'

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Royal Challengers Bangalore registered a thumping win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first match at M. Chinnaswamy; they defeated the SRH by a convincing margin of 45 runs

An encounter between the heavyweights Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad proved to be a one-sided affair as the home team marched to the victory without any hiccups or any hassles. On paper, RCB has the most daunting or the most desired batting line-up in the history of T20 cricket as it features names like Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shane Watson. And living up to their expectations, the duo of Kohli (75 runs) and De Villiers (82 runs) powered Bangalore to a massive score of 227/4 in 20 overs. Thus, RCB became the first side this season to notch up a 200+ score in an innings. However, in reply to that Sunrisers managed to score only 182 runs in the loss of 6 wickets in their quota of 20 overs. Skipper, David Warner scored a cracking half-century off just 21 balls but after his dismissal, no batsman shouldered the responsibility to take Hyderabad home.

David Warner, the lone warrior in Hyderabad’s batting unit

Despite having an ordinary ICC World T20, Sunrisers skipper David Warner continued from where he left in the season 8 of IPL 2015, he not only struck form but also gave RCB a scare at their home ground by some lusty hitting and brilliant counter-attack to rattle their bowlers. Warner scored 58 off just 25 balls that included 4 boundaries and five maximums. His strike rate of 232 was way better than Kohli’s and De Villiers rate. After losing Shikhar Dhawan early at the start of SRH innings, Warner didn’t allow any Bangalore bowler to settle down, eventually, he fell off Watson’s delivery which was caught by Milne at deep square leg. With wickets falling at the other end, it was the skipper Warner show for Sunrisers Hyderabad as he led the fight back in style against a strong RCB line-up. Also, the injury of teammate Yuvraj Singh caused problems for SRH as the lack of experience in their middle order was clearly evident. Losing wickets in clusters cost Hyderabad the match.

Warner’s Wagon Wheel:

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On the other hand, Warner’s spectacular show in Indian Premier League started in 2015 when he won the Orange Cap (most number of runs in IPL) by scoring 562 runs at an impressive average of 43.23 with an astonishing strike rate of 157. He scored seven half-centuries last season with a top score of 91. In spite of his terrific show in the league, SRH couldn’t make it to playoffs last season and was out after the round robin stage.

Though Sunrisers have a few positives to take forward after their loss against RCB, Warner’s form and Mustafizur’s impressive first outing in IPL are some of them. In the remaining matches, the onus will once again be on the skipper Warner to lead his side from the front and get the act together as a team to progress further in the league.

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