Rajkot: Yet another half-century from David Warner lifted Sunrisers Hyderabad to a ten-wicket victory with 31 balls to spare against Gujarat Lions.
Warner, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, chose to bowl against Gujarat Lions on a surface with a smattering of grass, but when he got to the crease, he quickly took control.
The Australian struck an excellent unbeaten 74 from 48 balls, while his partner Shikhar Dhawan also got a half-century, hitting 53 off 41 balls.
At the start, Suresh Raina cracked 75, but Sunrisers Hyderabad managed to restrict Gujarat Lions to 135 for eight in 20 overs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter.
Raina’s 51-ball 75, featuring nine fours, drove Gujarat’s innings, whereas others struggled against an impressive bowling performance from Hyderabad.
Gujarat, coming into the match with three consecutive wins, got off to a strong start despite losing Australian opening batsman Aaron Finch early. Finch, who had scores of 74, 50 and 67 not out respectively in the first three matches, lost his wicket for a duck. The right-hander missed the line as an incoming delivery from Bhuvneshawar Kumar disturbed his stumps.
Raina completed his 50 off 34 deliveries as the run-rate dropped due to the quick wickets.
All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who returned to the team after missing a game due to his marriage, shared a 26-run stand with Raina until Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman dismissed the former (14).
Mustafizur continued to be impressive with his death-overs bowling as he conceded only 19 runs in his four overs.
In the final over, Bhuvneshwar conceded only six runs, while getting three wickets as the hosts struggled to their score.
After just 7 overs of their innings, Hyderabad had scored more than half of their target.
Warner completed his 50 off just 29 balls.
There was a big shout on Raina’s delivery in the 8th over for Lbw, but the umpire was not impressed and Dhawan survived.
After 14.5 overs, Warner edged to third-man for a four — and with the boundary pumped his fist into the air to celebrate the rousing 10-wicket win.
Hyderabad have now won all their four games and Warner hit a 50 in three of them. Warner hit nine boundaries during his knock, while his partner Dhawan struck five fours.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 137 for 0 (Warner 74*, Dhawan 53*) beat Gujarat Lions 135 for 8 (Raina 75, Bhuvneshwar 4-29) by ten wickets.
