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in an otherwise red-hot streak. Much like the 25-ball 58 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first face-off this season, Warner hammered the visitors' attack to all parts of the ground during his 50-ball 92, his fifth fifty in seven matches. That knock led Sunrisers Hyderabad to the top half of the table with a 15-run win. The sides managed to get a full 40-over game despite a delayed start by an hour due to intermittent rain.
Warner used his force, timing and gigantic bat to pick boundaries regularly. He found an able partner in Kane Williamson, who scored 50 off 38 and shared a second-wicket stand of 124 runs in 12.1 overs that charged Sunrisers to 194 for 5, their highest total of the season. The Royal Challengers chase showed promising signs initially and the hosts helped them by dropping AB de Villiers twice, but Sunrisers' quicks and the pressure of a rising asking rate were too much for the visitors.
Virat Kohli opted to bowl and Warner changed gears after Shikhar Dhawan handed a return catch to Kane Richardson in the fourth over. Harshal Patel was introduced into the attack in the sixth over and Warner showcased his power-hitting, collecting 16 runs to launch Sunrisers' run rate into an orbit from which Royal Challengers could not pull it back.
Williamson nudged the ball around to give Warner the strike in his slow start. The Royal Challengers spinners, Parvez Rasool and Tabraiz Shamsi, applied a speed breaker briefly by not conceding a boundary off 11 successive deliveries. Warner, however, went deep into the crease to tackle Rasool's flat deliveries and Shamsi's wrong'uns.
But once the quicks came back, Williamson took charge with a variety of fours in the next two overs - a flick, an edge and a whip - which pushed the run rate close to 8.50. Warner targeted Richardson in the 15th over with powerful and well-placed shots that lifted the scoring rate past 9. The Sunrisers captain holed out to long-off in the next over, and Williamson and Naman Ojha fell within four balls, but Moises Henriques' 14-ball 31 with three sixes propelled Sunrisers close to 200.
Without Chris Gayle, who was not picked despite being available, Royal Challengers' chase was dependent largely on Kohli and de Villiers. KL Rahul kick-started the innings with flowing boundaries on the off side using sheer timing and placement. However, Mustafizur Rahman handed them the first blow in his first over when Kohli crunched him straight to backward point, for 14.
Sunrisers could have derailed the chase further when de Villiers, on 3, skied a short ball to fine leg, where Ashish Nehra made a mess of an easy catch. Rahul continued to cream boundaries on the off side and brought up his fifty off 26 balls. Sunrisers, though, hit back when Moises Henriques produced a thin outside edge from Rahul's bat and Watson's run-out for 2 in the bowler's next over left them on 90 for 3.
In between the two dismissals, another de Villiers catch was put down: the batsman pinned the ball to extra cover but Deepak Hooda could not hold on. In the 14th over it looked like de Villiers was going to make Sunrisers pay for the reprieves. He clubbed two short balls from Henriques for mighty sixes, but the threat did not last long as he handed his third catch of the night off Sran's bowling. Williamson, at long-on, leapt forward to get his fingers under it. At that stage, Royal Challengers needed 66 from 32 and with Mustafizur's two overs still in hand, the task was too stiff.
Sachin Baby tried to keep them in the hunt with fearless attempts that fetched him three fours and a six in a 16-ball 27. Kedar Jadhav targeted the leg side for two sixes but those weren't enough to lift Royal Challengers, who are placed second from the bottom in the points table
He might have hogged all the limelight with his all-round show that helped Delhi Daredevils topple heavyweights Kolkata Knight Riders by 27 runs, but Carlos Brathwaite credited his teammates Karun Nair and debutant Sam Billings for providing the platform for their highest total of the season thus far, batting first, that helped the home team avenge their nine-wicket loss in their tournament opener.
Andre Russell's 2 for 17 in the opening spell had reduced the home team to 32 for 3 inside the powerplay overs. However, Billings impressed on debut and stitched a match-winning 105-run stand with Nair to put Daredevils in the driver's seat.
In the process, Billings became only the second overseas player to score a half-century on Indian Premier League debut while Nair registered his sixth fifty-plus score. Brathwaite admitted that had it not been for the patient partnership between the two middle-order batters, Delhi could have folded for a sub-par total that could have proved too difficult to defend for the bowlers on a, surprisingly, flat Kotla track.
"Yeah it helped that the pitch was a lot more true, but let's not forget the foundation that was set by Karun and Sam that allowed me to come and play the way I wanted to play," Brathwaite said after Daredevils registered a comprehensive 27-run win on Saturday (April 30) at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium. "Most important were the contributions from those two that laid the platform."
Brathwaite, who last played against Royal Challengers Bangalore, was dropped keeping in line with Daredevils' horses for courses policy. Drafted back into the line-up as Delhi looked to strengthened their batting order in the crucial tie against the Knight Riders, the all-rounder bagged the Man of the Match award for his 11-ball cameo worth 34 runs and 3 for 47 with the ball. The West Indies' recruit however credited the backroom staff for not letting the 'rested' players feel left out.
"We don't see it as being dropped. For instance, Imran Tahir missed out today and I don't think he'll consider (that) he is dropped. It is just horses for courses," he said. "We have good depth in our squad, in our overseas (bench). Unfortunately, only four can play, so someone has to miss out. Credit to the team, the backroom staff and the international players that whoever does miss out, still get the same level of support when they are off the field," Brathwaite noted.
The 27-year-old also stressed that a relaxed atmosphere in the dressing room has translated to their success on the field. Delhi, who started as definite underdogs, have silenced their critics with four wins in their six concluded games and currently occupy the second spot in the points tally. Brathwaite admitted that the bonding between the players off the field has united them on it.
"We started this season with a clean slate and we stressed on having strong processes and solid preparation," he explained. "We enjoy each others' company and it is a very fun dressing room to be in. After play we have the music, we enjoy each others' company and go for dinners together. So it helps when you are friends off the field. That way you do go into pressure situations and fightback hard for each other on the field," he concluded.
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