The team led by David Warner will lead more than momentum to stop Royal Challengers from winning the cup.
Advertisement
The RCB batting might initially threatened to take the game away from SRH but their captain cool David Warner (69 runs, 38 balls, eight 4s, three 6s) kept his faith in bowlers to deliver.
By the time RCB needed 30 off the last two overs, the two batsman at the crease – Stuart Binny and Sachin Baby – both had only single figure scores to their name. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mustafizur Rahman bolwed to the best of their abilities and brought RCB back into the game with the help of Ben Cutting.
Bangladesh speedster Mustafizur Rahman played his part as a Ben Cutting-inspired Sunrisers Hyderabad won their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) title by defeating a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight runs in Sunday’s final. Getting yorkers right is the best way to bowl. I knew I was hitting the ball well and I just wanted to keep contributing.
Dhawan (28) and Warner played carefully, saving wickets until the seventh over when Dhawan got out to a long sweep shot at the boundary line, caught by Chris Jordan off Yuzvendra Chalal, and Warner, who had frustrated RCB for a long time, gave a simple catch straight to Kohli in the 14th over off Sreenath Arvind. Kohli was comfortably ahead of the 733 runs scored by Chris Gayle and Michael Hussey in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Chasing the target of 209 runs, Bangalore got off to a flying start as Chris Gayle (76) and Skipper Virat Kohli (54) laid a ideal platform and forged 114-run partnership.
Cutting picked up two wickets.
“A score in excess of 200 runs is always a very good total”. But credit must also go to Punjab all-rounder Bipul Sharma with the left-hander being the ideal support act with an unbeaten 27 from 11 balls with three massive sixes.
The 27-year-old was named player of the tournament after scoring 273 runs in five matches at an average of 136.50, and he has again been in a class of his own in this edition of the IPL.
“It takes a team to win a tournament”, he said. Sunrisers players were cheering ad jumping with joys.
Sunrisers Hyderabad held their nerve to complete a eight-run victory in the final.
“It’s great to see fans enjoy watching us play, even at the nets (practice sessions) and coming to the stadium in droves for every game irrespective of a win or loss”. Virat Kohli hit four tons for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Advertisement
“He has been phenomenal and probably the main reason why we were in the final”, former New Zealand skipper Vettori told reporters.
