David Warner's feet touch boundary ropes to gift victory to RCB in frantic finish to 6-over chase
In one of the most sensational finishes ever to a cricket match, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli slammed a six off the penultimate ball of the innings to take his team to a 6-wicket victory. David Warner, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, appeared to catch the ball comfortably near the boundary ropes, but inexplicably took a few steps backward after pulling off the catch. His feet touched the boundary ropes, gifting a six to Kohli and a massive victory to the Bangalore outfit, who climb to second on the points table with one game left to play.
Earlier, RCB were given a target of 81 to be chased down in 6 overs, in a game truncated by persistent rainfall. Chris Gayle got the visiting side to a tremendous start, racing to 35 runs off 9 balls before holing out in the deep. AB De Villiers departed in the same over, plunging the chasing side into a bit of a crisis, but Kohli stepped up to play a true captain’s innings, taking his team over the line with one ball to spare.
Poor bit of fielding from me: Warner
Warner, whose two steps backward cost his team the game, said after the match, “It was a poor bit of fielding. I thought I had got the catch, but didn’t look behind me.”
Gayle compounded the tour-de-force nature of the finish by running onto the pitch and going through a series of rapid push-ups on the pitch to celebrate. In explanation, he said, “ I was very pumped, very very pumped. I did 55 push-ups.”
Warner’s gaffe at the boundary ropes has drawn analogies on the social media to Lagaan, where also a match was decided in sensational fashion by the captain of a team stepping onto the rope after having pouched a catch off the last ball.