What a display of tenacity and indomitability by David Warner, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, who ends up with 93 not-out of 58 balls. What a time and occasion to step up with the big innings. All around him, wickets fell, but he stayed strong. All around him, tempers raged, but he stayed cool. All around him, the Required Run-Rate rose with every departure of a teammate, but he stayed strokeful.
Whole story in a single pic :) >#SRHvsGL>@SunRisers>@davidwarner31 Take a bow >#Warner>pic.twitter.com/yJ8rfDICje
— MoviesCricketComedy (@MoviesCricket) >May 27, 2016
Gujarat Lions were undercooked tonight, I thought. Both with the bat — if not for Aaron Finch's fifty they might not have got to 162/7 — and with the ball — Dwayne Bravo's promised death-over-specialisation fell through when needed the most, and Praveen Kumar lost his parsimony to his pugnacity. The disappointment will ram all the harder because they had kept on striking at the Sunrisers with regular wickets, not allowing any kind of partnership to develop — courtesy Shivil Kaushik and Bravo. But Warner never allowed wickets to become setbacks even as the game seesawed. But then that dreadful 15th over by Dwayne Smith turned the tide surely in SRH's favour and Warner needed just that iota of ignition to step on the gas with Bipul Sharma's able support.
That's that for Gujarat Lions. What a side they have been. Topping the table through sheer all-round credentials, including brute enforcers, cautious builders, miserly and yorking bowlers... and a Chameleon posing as a Chinaman. But all of it came undone in a five-over period towards the end of this match.
And Sunrisers Hyderabad will go through to the IPL-2016 Final with this win. Deserved winners? I would have to think about that, in all honesty. When you defeat an all-round side by dint of a formidable one-man show, you don't inspire confidence against a champion side like Royal Challengers Bangalore. But we'll see come Sunday.
Want to see >@YUVSTRONG12 & >@imVkohli to lift the trophy ! Any chances? >#SRHvsGL
— 10Dulkar (@hatimonly4u) >May 27, 2016
SRH 163/6 after 19.2 overs (D Warner 93 off 58 | B Sharma 27 off 11 || win by 4 wickets)
Praveen, the hot-headed, will defend 5 runs off the final over.
Warner has struck a four through Cover off the first ball. How's that for a cool head? And smashes the next delivery through Point. Just two balls, it took. And the Sunrisers traipse into the final with a four-wicket victory.
SRH 158/6 after 19 overs (D Warner 88 off 56 | B Sharma 27 off 11 || need 5 from 6 balls)
Bravo.
Warner gets a sliced four first ball through Point. Great running too, getting twos regularly. And Warner is peppering the off-side, misses out on a boundary the first time thanks to Finch's stocky one-handed athleticism, but gets the four the second time as Finch can't make it this time. And Bipul tops the over off with a cool straight six . 19 runs come off it. Huge over. This was not what Bravo was expected to do.
>#Unbreakingnews : Heard Bravo was muttering after the match "Who the heck is B Sharma"
And it's just 5 needed off the final over.
My concern is Warner isn't going to get his century. Not enough runs.
SRH 139/6 after 18 overs (D Warner 75 off 51 | B Sharma 21 off 10 || need 24 from 12 balls)
Kulkarni to bowl the 18th. He is keeping the length up and the line slightly wide. Effective enough. Until he does it once too often, and Bipul is able to premeditate a walk-across paddle-scoop for six over Fine-leg.
What a game. I have NO clue who will pull this off. Though, my spider-sense says Sunrisers will get this one. For Warner, who's been pretty intense over the past few overs.
SRH 129/6 after 17 overs (D Warner 74 off 49 | B Sharma 12 off 6 || need 34 from 18 balls)
Now, Praveen is back for his third over.
Two yorkers. Then Bipul Sharma despatches a half-volley outside off-stump over Long-off for six . This game is seesawing like nobody's business. And whoa. This game should be Rated R for violence. Praveen Kumar delivers the last ball and then swaggers down to Warner, mouth full of marbles and a head full of heat.
Gujarat need McCullum to do what ABD did for >#RCB>#SRHvsGL
— Jinesh Bhagdev (@jineshbhagdev) >May 27, 2016
SRH 118/6 after 16 overs (D Warner 74 off 48 | B Sharma 1 off 1 || need 45 from 24 balls)
Bravo back.
And you can't go after Bravo with the same impunity as you might other bowlers. There's always a trick up his sleeve. Like, the juicy full-toss might be laced with a sedative that makes you mistime it into Midwicket's hands, just like Naman Ojha (10 from 8) did. Lions are chipping away at Sunrisers, who are been pegged back every now and then.
SRH 116/5 after 15 overs (D Warner 73 off 45 | N Ojha 10 off 6 || need 47 from 30 balls)
Smith comes back on to try and dibble-and-dobble the Sunrisers out.
Ho ho, Warner has got under that one, creaming it flat as a tack over the infield, over the outfield and over the fielder at the ropes — all in the same trajectory — for six . Now, a full-toss gets the treatment, sliced past Point for four . And now, Ojha is getting into the mood, pulling a short delivery up and over Square-leg for a six to end the over.
Deja vu. ABD had taken to Smith at this very same stage in the earlier Qualifier match. What an over. 19 wholesome runs. Brought the RRR down from 11 to 9.40 in one glorious over. Suddenly, just 47 runs and 30 deliveries separate Sunrisers from the Final.
SRH 97/5 after 14 overs (D Warner 61 off 41 | N Ojha 3 off 4 || need 66 from 36 balls)
Warner missed a couple of big hits that over from Kulkarni. Just 6 runs.
SRH 91/5 after 13 overs (D Warner 57 off 37 | N Ojha 1 off 2 || need 72 from 42 balls)
And Kaushik has delivered. Cutting reaches out to defend a flat delivery outside off, but it holds its line and takes a feather of an edge through to the wicketkeeper. And another one bites the dust. Kaushik is the apple of his teammates' eye.
But Warner is in his own space, and he continues to dance as the world crumbles around him, absolutely clobbering it for a six over Midwicket. He is carrying on like a superhero tonight.
SRH 82/4 after 12 overs (D Warner 50 off 32 | B Cutting 7 off 5 || need 81 from 48 balls)
And Bravo is now gamboling around the field like he's at his own personal discotheque, after he traps Hooda (4 from 9) in front with a slower delivery. Ben Cutting walks in. And swats Bravo through to the Midwicket boundary for four . RRR is now 10.12 an over.
SRH 75/3 after 11 overs (D Warner 50 off 35 | D Hooda 4 off 8 || need 88 from 54 balls)
Kaushik is back again. Looks like he's going to be bowled out here in the hope of dealing some more setbacks to Sunrisers.
A close call for Hooda first up, as his foot strays out of the crease. But it's back in just in time. Warner ends the over with another thick-edged four through Third-man. And brings up his fifty. He needs to pull an ABD tonight who takes his team through with a late assault.
SRH 66/3 after 10 overs (D Warner 43 off 32 | D Hooda 2 off 5 || need 97 from 60 balls)
Dwayne Bravo now.
Bravo doesn't need a time and place to bowl yorkers and slower deliveries. Forget the death. These constricting deliveries are his staple. And he pushes through a 4-run over with the Required Run-Rate ratcheting up to nearly 10 an over.
SRH 62/3 after 9 overs (D Warner 41 off 28 | D Hooda 0 off 3 || need 101 from 66 balls)
Kaushik stays on. And with good reason.
Yuvraj is not comfortable being tied down like he was by Kaushik in the previous over. So, he goes for a full-blooded loft that lands straight in Long-off's hands. And that's the end of Yuvraj (8 from 13) for tonight.
And Deepak Hooda is welcomed with a loud shout for caught-behind. Kaushik is lighting it up for Lions.
SRH 61/2 after 8 overs (D Warner 40 off 27 | Y Singh 8 off 11 || need 102 from 72 balls)
Raina keeps himself on. Surprise bowling choice.
And he's lofted out of the park for a six first ball by Warner. Nothing like a straight six to announce your intentions. And then another loft, this time over Cover, for a four . 12 runs off the over.
Question is, will Raina bowl again?
SRH 49/2 after 7 overs (D Warner 29 off 23 | Y Singh 7 off 9 || need 114 from 78 balls)
Oh jolly good. Shivil Kaushik comes on now, with his frog-in-a-blender Chinaman. This will be great to watch. Period. Yuvraj really got into Kuldeep Sharma, the other Chinaman in Kolkata Knight Riders, the other night. How will he take on this freak bowler from Hubli?
Well, Kaushik bowls four deliveries to Yuvraj, the last of which was a tight LBW call. Not so easy to pick the googly when it is delivered from inside a Large Hadron Collider, is it? He survives, though. Just 3 runs.
SRH 46/2 after 6 overs (D Warner 27 off 21 | Y Singh 6 off 25 || need 117 off 84 balls)
Suresh Raina takes the ball, takes matters into his own hands. Bowls out a quiet over for just 3 runs. Good relief for Lions.
SRH 43/2 after 5 overs (D Warner 25 off 18 | Y Singh 5 off 2)
Dwayne Smith on now.
And Henriques (11 from 6) is gone, first ball, standing back and slapping a short-and-wide delivery straight into Extra Cover's hands. Was quite a bad ball, really; just shows that T20 cricket rewards you even for mediocrity.
And Yuvraj is in.
And what a way to announce yourself, slashing a short ball over Cover for four . Warner is making a habit of striking a boundary every time he comes back on strike; this time it's an outside-edge that runs away for four through Third-man.
SRH 33/1 after 4 overs (D Warner 20 off 15 | M Henriques 11 off 5)
Kulkarni.
And Henriques frees his arms to cut a short-and-wide ball for four over Point. And Warner, again, powers a boundary four , over the bowler's head. Another 11 runs.
SRH 22/1 after 3 overs (D Warner 15 off 12 | M Henriques 5 off 2)
Praveen to continue. Moises Henriques cuts a short-ish delivery for four through Point. And Warner finishes the over with a thumping off-driven four through Mid-off. 11 runs off it.
SRH 11/1 after 2 overs (D Warner 10 off 8 | M Henriques 0 off 0)
Dhawal Kulkarni takes the ball from the other end. And Shikhar Dhawan (0 from 4) is run-out first ball, as Dhawan pushes to Cover and tries to complete a tight run. Too tight. Especially when it's Brendon McCullum swooping down on the ball and gearing up to fire a throw into the non-striker's end.
But Warner keeps calm and carries on. Threads a driven four through Cover.
SRH 6/0 after 1 over (D Warner 5 off 3 | S Dhawan 0 off 3)
Praveen Kumar to begin the Gujarat Lions' defence.
And David Warner begins with a nice flick off his pads that rolls and rolls, into the Square-leg fence for four . Looks like a fast outfield. Great for Sunrisers Hyderabad, not so much for Lions.
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That was some professional stuff towards the end of the innings there, for Sunrisers Hyderabad to get to 162/7, scoring at almost 11 runs an over over the final stretch, courtesy Aaron Finch, who got to his fifty for all the hard work he put in to stabilise the innings, which was falling apart from very early, courtesy some excessively attacking shots attempted up front by Gujarat Lions. The experiment to send young Eklavya Dwivedi in to open the innings came a cropper. And when captain Brendon McCullum too fell in the 12th over, the Lions were staring down the barrel in a crucial do-or-die game. But Finch happened then, and Dwayne Bravo joined in with some well-steered boundaries to give the Lions 79 off the final 7 overs.
GL 162/7 after 20 overs (R Jadeja 19 from 15 | D Kulkarni 3 from 2)
Right. Now Bhuvi for the final over. 150 is already up. Sunrisers have done brilliantly over the last 4-5 overs. Can they power through to touch 170?
Yorker first up. Then Bravo deceives him into bowling a wide by backing away down leg-side. And then Bravo (20 from 10) comes undone, going for an expansive slog, only to have the full delivery ricochet off his pads and knock into the stumps. And a slower delivery to finish. Great over by Bhuvi here.
GL 154/6 after 19 overs (R Jadeja 17 from 13 | D Bravo 18 from 8)
Boult back. Bravo unleashed. Pushes a well-timed drive for four through the Covers, then steers a sliced drive through Point for four . And now, Bravo shuts his eyes to a low full-toss and swings to get a thick edge through to the Third-man boundary for four .
GL 139/6 after 18 overs (R Jadeja 16 from 12 | D Bravo 5 from 3)
Cutting back now. Finch pulls across a short delivery to send it racing away for four through Square-leg. And the next ball, Finch (50 from 32) tries a bit too hard, backs away a bit too far for a speedy ball from around the wicket and it ricochets off his elbow to crash into his woodwoork.
Dwayne Bravo comes in and picks up a cheeky four down Fine-leg.
GL 129/5 after 17 overs (R Jadeja 15 from 11 | A Finch 46 from 30)
Bhuvi begins the first of his remaining two overs. He is bowling his trademark nagging line in the off-stump channel. Jadeja manages to puncture the over by lofting a straight drive for a four through Long-off.
GL 120/5 after 16 overs (R Jadeja 8 from 7 | A Finch 44 from 28)
Boult.
Finch gives us a moment to remember. Boult slides a slower delivery across him, and Finch brings his bat forward to paddle it on the on-side, realises it's too wide of off-stump, and manages to take mini backswing to try and late-cut it on the off-side. But misses everything after giving it two shots worth of effort. And then Finch sends two shots racing to the boundary fence to make up for the two misses shots: an uppercut over Third-man goes for four , and then a classy front-foot drive through Long-off for another .
GL 109/5 after 15 overs (R Jadeja 6 from 5 | A Finch 35 from 24)
Sran back for the 15th over. And what a play from Cutting at the Square-leg boundary, as he leaps to catch Finch and throws it back in as he falls back over the ropes. Saved the six for whatever that was worth. Finch ends the over on a good note, squeezing a wide yorker through Point for an energising four .
GL 100/5 after 14 overs (R Jadeja 3 from 2 | A Finch 29 from 21)
Henriques back. And Finch has lain into him this over. Muscles a short delivery through Cover for four , then thunders a six over Midwicket before ending the over with another four battered one-bounce over Midwicket. 17 runs that over. And the 100 is up. Just the infusion of energy Lions needed at this stage, as they were slipping. They'll be going for 150+ from hereon out.
GL 83/5 after 13 overs (R Jadeja 0 from 0 | A Finch 15 from 17)
And now, as Cutting comes back, it's Dwayne Smith's (1 from 3) turn to get caught on the off-side off a miscued shot. Really quite a bad delivery, short and wide, and Smith managed to squander the shot on offer as well as his wicket. Things unravelling here for Lions. And we thought Sunrisers were going into this game with any Fizz.
GL 81/4 after 12 overs (D Smith 0 from 0 | A Finch 14 from 14)
Bipul Sharma comes back and things begin to happen. First, Finch escapes with a leading-edge to Long-on. Then Sran drops a sitter at Short Fine-leg after Finch top-edges a sweep. But finally, it's McCullum (32 from 29) who departs amid all the chaos, advancing down the track off the last ball of the over and skewing it into Deep Cover's hands.
GL 77/3 after 11 overs (B McCullum 30 from 26 | A Finch 12 from 11)
What a beginning to the Sran over. Finch bunts a pulled four through Square-leg, and then carves a powerful lofted drive for a six . Sran comes back with some effective variations in line and length.
GL 67/3 after 10 overs (B McCullum 30 from 26 | A Finch 2 from 5)
Henriques bowls an unusually quiet over for just 4 runs as Aaron Finch and McCullum look to lay the foundation of a partnership.
GL 63/3 after 9 overs (B McCullum 28 from 24 | A Finch 0 from 1)
Bipul continues. Karthik is in some prime touch tonight. Now he rocks back to pull it through Long-on for four . Woof, and now he has walked down the pitch to whip it powerful and flat to Mid-wicket, where Cutting just comically overruns the catch, and it's a six . Oh no. Karthik (26 from 19) has to go, after McCullum refuses to come for the run. Great work from Boult at Third-man to get the direct-hit in to send back such an in-form player.
Textbook definition of brain freeze moment from Dinesh Karthik there. >#SRHvsGL
— narayan devanathan (@twinsighter) >May 27, 2016
GL 52/2 after 8 overs (B McCullum 27 from 22 | D Karthik 16 from 16)
Moises Henriques in. Rapid bowling changes tonight from David Warner. And Karthik jogs down to steer him through Cover for four first ball. Strategic Time-out.
GL 46/2 after 7 overs (B McCullum 26 from 21 | D Karthik 11 from 11)
Ben Cutting in now. Some problem with the sightscreen. Once it's set right, McCullum clubs a slower delivery to the Mid-off boundary for a four .
GL 38/2 after 6 overs (B McCullum 20 from 17 | D Karthik 9 from 9)
Bipul Sharma is brought on. Bowling a flat line on-and-outside off-stump. After two dot balls, Karthik decides to take matters his own hands, and manufactures a nicely-swept four by walking across the stumps.
GL 32/2 after 5 overs (B McCullum 19 from 16 | D Karthik 4 from 4)
Barinder Sran into the attack. McCullum waits an instant longer to latch onto the slower one and pull it through Fine-leg for four . Bowlers are getting a whole lot of swing here tonight at the Kotla, and finding it hard to control. Now, McCullum gets another one fuller-and-wider and he whips it away over and through Fine-leg once again for another four .
GL 23/2 after 4 overs (B McCullum 11 from 10 | D Karthik 4 from 4)
And Boult has struck. Lions have been in an inordinately attacking mindset, and after Dwivedi, now Raina (1 from 5) tries to hit diagonally across the line to a straight delivery, and gets struck on the pads in front of the wicket.
Dinesh Karthik comes in and strikes a glorious cover driven four to get himself going.
GL 19/1 after 3 overs (B McCullum 11 from 10 | S Raina 1 from 3)
Kumar continues. Short, wide and swinging away. Raina was backing away to make some room, and got more than he bargained for, stretching for it but it swerves away from him. He flailed at that quite hard, like he wanted to murder that ball. Now, Shikhar Dhawan shows some startling commitment at the Point boundary, where he hares across and dives to stop a boundary smashed by McCullum. Sunrisers showing good intent here.
GL 16/1 after 2 overs (B McCullum 9 from 7 | S Raina 0 from 0)
Trent Boult comes on. Begins with a lot of swing, and a wide. And McCullum is off, throwing his arms at this full-and-wide delivery outside off-stump and carting it away for four through Cover. And now, Boult strays on McCullum's legs to get flicked away on the on-side for four .
GL 7/1 after 1 over (B McCullum 1 from 1 | S Raina 0 from 0)
Guess who walks out for Gujarat Lions alongside Brendon McCullum. Not Dwayne Smith or Aaron Finch. It's the young Eklavya Dwivedi, who showed some attacking skill in their last game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Well, this is some promotion.
And Bhuvaneshwar Kumar takes the ball. Dwivedi looked to set his agenda up front this over. First, flashing it through Third-man for four , then advancing down and swishing wildly. And Dwivedi (5 from 5) is gone, flashing a short one straight up in the air, caught out at Third-man. What a waste of an experiment.
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Sunrisers Hyderabad win the toss and choose to bowl first . Also, big news. The Fizz has a hamstring problem and won't be playing this crucial game for Sunrisers. Trent Boult will replace him. Quite a like-for-like replacement, that.
Sunrisers Hyderabad replace Mustafizur Rahman with Trent Boult...
DA Warner*, S Dhawan, MC Henriques, Yuvraj Singh, DJ Hooda, BCJ Cutting, NV Ojha†, Bipul Sharma, B Kumar, BB Sran, TA Boult
Gujarat Lions are leaving out Shadab Jakati for Shivil Kaushik...
AJ Finch, BB McCullum, SK Raina*, KD Karthik†, DR Smith, RA Jadeja, DJ Bravo, ER Dwivedi, P Kumar, DS Kulkarni, S Kaushik
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Gujarat Lions Squad
SK Raina*, S Ladda, AD Nath, Amit Mishra, DJ Bravo, P Dogra, ER Dwivedi, JP Faulkner, AJ Finch, Ishan Kishan, RA Jadeja, SB Jakati, KD Karthik, S Kaushik, DS Kulkarni, P Kumar, BB McCullum, PJ Sangwan, JN Shah, UA Sharma, DR Smith, DW Steyn, PV Tambe, AJ Tye
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad
DA Warner*, A Ashish Reddy, RK Bhui, Bipul Sharma, TA Boult, BCJ Cutting, S Dhawan, MC Henriques, DJ Hooda, S Kaul, B Kumar, A Mithun, EJG Morgan, Mustafizur Rahman, NV Ojha, V Shankar, KV Sharma, BB Sran, TL Suman, AP Tare, KS Williamson, Yuvraj Singh
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Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the second Qualifier IPL match, between Gujarat Lions and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Feroze Shah Kotla in Delhi. The winner of this game will enter and play the IPL-2016 Final against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
