Warner leads from front, takes Sunrisers to 158/7

Sent into bat, skipper Warner led from the front and struck eight boundaries and a six in his 56-ball knock. This was Warner’s eight fifty in the ongoing ninth season of the cash-rich T20 league. The in-form opener added 46 runs for the first wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (10) before the Indian fell to a brilliant piece of work by Carlos Brathwaite.

As Dhawan hit one towards mid-on, Brathwaite made a diving save off his own bowling and then fired an accurate throw at the striker’s end to run out the batsman who was on the lookout for a quick single.

Deepak Hooda (1), too, was run out while going for what seemed like a needless attempt.

Yuvraj Singh (10) was bowled by Brathwaite as Sunrisers Hyderabad slumped to 66 for three in the 10th over.

Warner tried to forge a partnership with Moises Henriques (10) and added 39 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was sent back by JP Duminy.

Even as wickets fell around him, Warner stood firm at the other hand and kept finding the ropes. He was especially fluent in the off side to start with and scored a few boundaries in that direction.

However, Sunrisers were dealt a body blow when they lost their captain in the 16th over to leave the side struggling at 117 for five. Brathwaite bowled one short outside off and Warner top-edged to give Amit Mishra an easy catch at third man.

Down the order, Eoin Morgan (10) Naman Ojha made (16 not out) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (12 not out) made useful contributions to help the the team reach a modest total.

Returning to the side, Brathwaite picked up two wickets for 27 runs in his four-over spell, while was one apiece for JP Duminy and Nathan Coulter-Nile.