Warner’s wizardry again lights up IPL

The match in a tweet: Warner the Wizard pummels Bangalore, as the Sunrisers continue their march to the top with a 15-run victory.

The hero: David Warner continues to mesmerise the viewers with his scintillating stroke play. The Sunrisers skipper’s innings of 92 from 50 balls was a combination of brute strength as well as some deft touches. Warner was particularly ruthless on anything pitched up in his half, sending it down to the rope or over it on 14 occasions. His compatriot Kane Richardson came in for some special treatment, the South Australian paceman going for 29 runs from the nine balls he bowled to Australia’s vice-captain. Warner’s 92 also earned him the Orange Cap as the tournament’s leading run-scorer to date.

The support cast: Playing his first game of the season, Kane Williamson was an ideal partner for the rampaging Warner. The Kiwi ace rotated the strike beautifully to progress to a run-a-ball 22 before freeing his arms. Williamson’s ability to continuously pierce the field through the leg-side was a delight to watch as he reached his half-century from 37 balls. Moises Henriques’ cameo also deserves a mention, with the allrounder blasting 31 from 14 to propel the Sunrisers to mammoth total of 194. Henriques also returned figures of 1-40 which included the wicket of the well-set KL Rahul.

The shot: Yesterday it was the ‘dog shot’, today it’s the ‘Whip Shot’ – a ball from Richardson was angled across Warner on a fuller length, and the left-hander, batting on leg-stump, reached out and used his bottom hand to flick the ball over midwicket for six. Even Virat Kohli, the opposition skipper, managed to curl his lip in appreciation.

The consolation efforts: KL Rahul sparkled as an opener, posting a half-century in just 28 balls to get the Royal Challengers a flying start. Rahul was complemented by AB de Villiers’ 47 from 32 but in pursuit of 195, the Royal Challengers needed one of the two to go on to make a Warner-like contribution.

Third-time lucky: Barinder Sran must have felt as if he’d he woken up on the wrong side of the bed after having de Villiers dropped twice, on three and 17. Sran turned his own luck around, first by running out Shane Watson with a direct hit from the boundary and then finally having de Villiers caught at long-on with a cleverly disguised slower ball.

The stat: David Warner has now scored 386 out of the 1200 runs his team has scored this season. That is an incredible 32 per cent of Hyderabad’s runs.

The wash-up: After getting steamrolled in their last match, the Sunrisers are back with a bang. Not that anyone doubted their credentials but with Williamson back at the top with Warner and with Yuvraj Singh set to return in the next match, they are suddenly looking like the team to beat. For the RCB, it’s officially panic stations in the bowling departments having conceded almost 400 runs in their last two matches.

The next stop: The Sunrisers stay at home to take on Gujarat Lions in a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash while Royal Challengers face the Knight Riders in Bangalore.