IPL: Sunrisers Hyderabad claim 22-run win over Chennai Super Kings

David Warner’s quick-fire 61 inspired Sunrisers Hyderabad to a 22-run win over table toppers Chennai Super Kings in their first match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

The left-handed opener smashed 11 fours and a six in his 28-ball knock as Sunrisers posted a total of 192, before restricting Chennai to 170/6 to claim their fourth win of this year’s IPL.

Put into bat by Chennai skipper MS Dhoni, Warner came to the crease looking like a man who meant business, dispatching Mohit Sharma for a boundary with the first ball of the innings.

And he didn’t look back as he carved up the Chennai attack to reach his 50 off 20 balls, claiming the Orange Cap in the process, as he led Sunrisers to 76/0 after just six overs.

Warner built an opening partnership of 86 with Shikhar Dhawan before taking on Suresh Raina’s off-spin and holing out to Dwayne Smith in the deep at the beginning of the ninth over.

Moises Henriques came to the crease and hit two sixes and a four before being stumped by Dhoni in the following over after scoring 19 off nine balls.

England one-day captain Eoin Morgan joined Dhawan at the crease and the pair added 27 runs to the score before an ill-judged decision to take a second run, saw the Indian international run out on 37 after an accurate throw from Ravindra Jadeja.

At 131/3 with seven overs remaining, Morgan tried to build a partnership with the new man at the crease Naman Ojha. Ojha hit three fours and a six to reach 20 from 12 balls before an Ashish Nehra delivery flicked his pads and hit the stumps at the beginning of the 17th over.

Ashish Reddy, Hanuma Vihari and Ishant Sharma could only muster 18 runs between them before all falling to Dwayne Bravo - the pick of Chennai’s’ bowlers with figures of 3/25 - but Morgan’s unbeaten 32 helped Sunrisers to a highly competitive total.

Smith and Brendan McCullum got Chennai’s reply off to a flyer, with three boundaries from the Kiwi taking them to 13 after the first over.

But McCullum departed the following over after dragging a ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar onto his stumps.

Smith and Raina reignited Chennai’s charge, sharing a third wicket stand of 34 before Smith top-edged a slow ball from Henriques at the start of the fifth, allowing Vihari to take a running catch at deep square leg.

Henriques picked up his second wicket two overs later, reducing Chennai to 68/3 when Raina’s mistimed shot down the ground was taken by Morgan.

Faf du Plessis and skipper MS Dhoni put Chennai in a good position to mount a late assault before perishing for 33 and 20 respectively in successive balls in the 13th over, leaving Chennai needing 79 runs to win with five wickets down.

Bravo and Pawan Negi found it difficult to get into Sunrisers’ pace attack and when the latter was bowled by a Kumar yorker with 21 balls left to play the match was effectively over.

Chennai finished 23 runs short of their target but remain top of the IPL standings following Rajasthan’s defeat to Mumbai on Saturday.