Dubai: Led by an inspiring captain’s knock from David Warner, Sunrisers Hyderabad emerged as the new champions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in front of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s vociferous home crowd by eight runs.
It was a dramatic end to the ninth edition of the IPL after Royal Challengers’ opener Chris Gayle almost blew away Hyderabad’s hopes of winning the title through a whirlwind knock of 76 runs off 38 balls with four boundaries and eight sixes. It was also a sad end for Kohli, who despite winning the orange cap for the maximum runs, failed to win the cup for Bangalore. His fighting 54 runs off 35 balls with five boundaries and two sixes went in vain.
Gayle put on 114 runs in 10.3 overs with Kohli, chasing Hyderabad’s mighty total of 208 for 7 carved out of Warner’s 69 off just 38 balls with eight boundaries and three sixes. Yuvraj Singh with 38 runs and Ben Cutting through an unbeaten 39 swelled the total.
Bangalore’s Shane Watson gave away 24 runs in the last over of Hyderabad’s innings and that proved to be too costly.
Chasing a run rate of 10.40 runs per over, Gayle began with a six off Barinder Sran over mid-on. He scored freely and in the fourth over from Sran hit him for two sixes and a boundary. He put on 50 runs in 4.4 overs with his skipper Virat Kohli, who could contribute just six runs in the partnership.
Gayle reached his half century in 25 balls hitting Moises Henriques for a six over long on. He continued the massacre lifting Ben Cutting for a towering six. The 100 runs partnership came in the nine overs with Gayle picking 20 runs off Henriques over with two sixes and two boundaries.
Kohli had a lucky escape at his score on 31, when Mustafizur failed to hold on to a slash shot off Cutting at short third man. In the same over, Gayle fell hitting high to Bipul Sharma at third man. He put on 114 runs in 10.3 overs with Kohli.
AB De Villiers joined Kohli with Bangalore needing 95 runs in 57 balls. Kohli reached his 50 in 32 balls but Sran bowled him after he added four more runs. Sixty nine runs needed off 43 balls but Sharma picked the wicket of De Villiers for 5. Three top batsmen dismissed in quick succession, Hyderabad got back into the game. Cutting clean bowled inform Lokesh Rahul for 11 to take the game totally away from Bangalore.
Warner won the toss and elected to bat. The first boundary of the final came from the bat of Shikhar Dhawan, who glanced Sreenath Aravind to the short fine leg boundary. Warner showed signs of his aggressiveness from the third over hitting Aravind for two successive boundaries through the covers and another through mid-wicket. He also hit the first six of the match in the fifth over by cracking Shane Watson over the covers and another over mid-off. The first five overs produced 46 runs.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who was introduced in the seventh over, provided the breakthrough by having Dhawan top edge a sweep to Chris Jordan at deep square leg for 28. The opening pair put on 63 runs in 6.4 overs. Warner lifted Iqbal Abdullah into the crowd over long-on in the seventh over and in the ninth over reached his half century in just 24 balls with five boundaries and three sixes.
Next man Moises Henriques contribution in a partnership of 34 runs in 3.1 overs with Warner was just four runs before he top edged Jordan to Chahal at short fine leg.
Yuvraj Singh joined Warner and began with a sweetly timed boundary off a cover drive to a Watson delivery. He then hit Jordan for a boundary to square and also lifted him for a six over backward square leg. Aravind got the price wicket of Warner in the 14th over. Warner’s slashed cut shot was brilliantly taken by Abdulla at short third man. He had put on 28 runs in 3.4 overs with Yuvraj.
In the 15th over from Chahal, Yuvraj hit a six and a boundary to make it 140 for 3. The last five overs began with Aravind dismissing Deepak Hooda for three and giving away just seven runs. The 17th over saw Yuvraj too depart for 38 runs driving Jordan uppishly to extra cover. Hyderabad got just nine runs from that over.
Watson ran out Naman Ojha in the 18th over but Ben Cutting hit him for a six and boundary. Jordan bowled a poor 19th over giving away 16 runs though he took the wicket of Bipul Sharma. Cutting hit Watson, who bowled the last over, for a boundary off the first ball and then hit sixes off the next two balls to reach the 200 run mark. Cutting remained unbeaten on 39. Watson gave away 24 runs in the last over.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad bt Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight runs. Hyderabad 208 for 7 in 20 overs (David Warner 69, Shikhar Dhawan 28, Yuvraj Singh 38, Ben Cutting 39n.o, Chris Jordan 3 for 45, Sreenath Aravind 2 for 30). Bangalore 200 for 7 in 20 overs (Chris Gayle 76, Virat Kohli 54, Ben Cutting 2 for 35).
