It was sweet revenge for David Warner as he played a crucial role with the bat in Delhi Capitals’ 21-run win over his former team Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Brabourne stadium on Thursday. Warner was released by SRH at the end of last season after a fallout with the team management. DC showed faith in him and the Australian hasn’t disappointed so for this season. His unbeaten knock of 92 on Thursday—his highest this season—came off 58 balls and included 12 fours and three sixes. Warner’s half-century was his 54th in IPL and fourth this season. He now has scored 356 runs in eight matches and sits fourth on the list of this edition’s highest scorers. Among the top five run-scorers, he has the best strike rate of 156.82.
Warner’s 66-ball unbeaten 122-run stand with Rovman Powell (67, 35b) for the fourth wicket helped DC post 207/3 before their bowlers took wickets regularly to stifle SRH’s scoring and churn out a comprehensive victory.
Abhishek Sharma (7, 6b) and skipper Kane Williamson (4, 11b) were back in the pavilion within the first five overs, dismissed by Khaleel Ahmed (3/30) and Anrich Nortje (1/35) respectively. The 35-ball 60 run stand between Aiden Markram (42, 25b) and Nicholas Pooran (62, 34b) gave SRH a ray of hope. After Markram was dismissed by Ahmed, Pooran continued with his blistering hitting but ran out of partners before holing out at long-off on the bowling of Shardul Thakur (2/44). SRH could reach 186/8.
Earlier, Warner started cautiously as the SRH bowlers, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar, got some early movement. But once the ball stopped doing much, Warner opened his shoulders. First on his radar was Umran Malik. He hit Malik for two fours and a six in his first over. Warner played smart shots and stitched useful partnerships to help DC post a mammoth total.
First up was a 21-ball 37-run stand with Mitchell Marsh (10, 7b) for the second wicket. Then a 48-run stand off 29 balls with skipper Rishabh Pant (26, 16b) for the third wicket. Pant struggled in the beginning before accumulating 22 of those runs off the first four balls bowled by Shreyas Gopal but he chopped a full toss from the leggie on to his stumps.
That over encapsulated the struggled of Pant in this edition where he is being dismissed after getting starts.
Then came Warner’s big partnership with West Indian Powell who took over the big hitting duties from the Australian. Of the 67 runs he scored 48 came through boundaries—three fours and six sixes. After struggling in the beginning of the campaign, Powell is getting used to the conditions and the runs are flowing. The highlight of his rollicking knock were two huge sixes over long-off—one off Gopal and the other off Sean Abbott.
Brief scores: DC 207/3 (D Warner 92*, R Powell 67*). SRH 186/8 (N Pooran 62, A Markram 42; K Ahmed 3/30, S Thakur 2/44). DC won by 21 runs.
