David Warner's power-packed performance complemented by excellent death bowling from Bhuvneshwar Kumar enabled Sunrisers Hyderabad record an emphatic 10-wicket victory over Gujarat Lions, in a lopsided Indian Premier League encounter, in Rajkot, on Thursday.
Pacer Bhuvneshwar registered splendid figures of four for 29 to restrict Gujarat Lions to 135 for eight in their 20 overs.
Skipper Warner continued his dream form as he plundered an unbeaten 74 off 48 balls with Sunrisers winning by a canter in only 14.5 overs. Shikhar Dhawan also got back among the runs as he stroked an unbeaten 53 off 41 balls with five boundaries.
While Sunrisers won their second outing in four games, it was the first loss for the Suresh Raina-led outfit.
The match was as good as lost for the Lions after they failed to notch up a decent total. But whatever dreams they harboured of early breakthroughs turned into nightmare as Warner creamed the bowling with utter disdain notching up his third half-century in four matches.
His sequence of scores in the IPL before this game read: 58, 13, 90 not out. With 235 runs in four games, Warner overtook Kolkata Knight Riders captain Gautam Gambhir as the current 'Orange Cap' holder as the highest run scorer in the league.
The Australian left-hander's 50 came off just 29 balls with seven boundaries and he completely eased the pressure on a struggling Dhawan giving him ample time to get his eye in and score a few valuable runs.
Warner started with two boundaries off Dale Steyn's bowling in the very first over, through third man and point respectively.
He upped the ante in Praveen Kumar's second over with successive cover drives and a straight hit past the bowler.
When a desperate Raina introduced himself into the attack, Warner also hit him for a couple of boundaries as runs flowed through his bat with ease. Dhawan at the other end was sensible enough to nudge around for the singles and give the skipper bulk of the strike.
The win came when Warner played a deft late cut off Ravindra Jadeja to finish the match in style.
Interestingly, 14 out of the 15 matches in this year's IPL have been won by teams batting second.
Earlier, captain Suresh Raina stroked a fouent 75 but Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers showed a lot of discipline to restrict Gujarat Lions to a modest 135 for eight.
Courtesy of Raina's 51-ball knock that comprised nine fours, Lions' score got some sort of respectability as the other batsmen failed to get going on a two-paced wicket where stroke-making proved to be difficult.
The second best score after Raina was Brendon McCullum's 18, which pretty much tells the sorry state of Lions' batting on the night.
Pacer Bhuvneshwar claimed four for 29 including three wickets in the final over of the Gujarat innings.
Bangladesh's seam bowling sensation Mustafizur Rahman once again bowled a miserly spell giving away only 19 runs in his four overs, while getting the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja (14) with a well disguised off-cutter.
The last five overs of the innings produced a mere 31 runs with the loss of four wickets as Gujarat's batsmen failed to get any sort of momentum in their innings.
With no support from the other end, it became difficult for a seasoned pro like Raina, who started positively but had to cut down on his strokes with wickets falling regularly from the other end.
The in-form Aaron Finch was bowled by Bhuvneshwar for a duck in the very first over of the innings, while McCullum managed just 18.
The only six of the innings came off McCullum's blade, even as Sunrisers bowlers bowled an unprecedented 38 dot balls, by sticking to a good line and length coupled with good mix of pace.
Hosts Gujarat made two changes to their team with Jadeja and Dale Steyn coming into the team, while Hyderabad included Aditya Tare.
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