IPL Match 8: RCB vs SRH: Gamechanger - David Warner

David Warner in action during his match-winning innings

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) cruised to a victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 8^th match of the IPL. Having restricted the home team to 166 in the first innings, captain David Warner led from the front with a blistering knock.

Warner tore the bowlers apart from the start as he and Shikhar Dhawan smashed 16 runs off the opening over by Sean Abbott. Harshal Patel was the Australian’s second victim as he smacked him all over the ground, scoring 20 runs off his over. SRH were at 36-0 after the first two overs.

Although the next two overs resulted in just 7 runs, that was just the calm before the storm as the 28-year-old hit 14 runs off the first 3 balls of the 5^th over bowled by Varun Aaron.

He reached his fifty off just 24 balls in the 7^th over with a rare single. He fell victim to spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the next over, having scored 57 runs in 27 balls. His knock was laced with 6 fours and 4 sixes before he departed with the score at 82 in 7.5 overs.

Hyderabad won the match by 8 wickets with 16 balls remaining and Warner was, rightly, awarded the ‘Man of the Match’ award.

This season, he has started brilliantly, smashing two fifties in as many matches with the first coming in a losing cause against Chennai Super Kings.

The Australian started his career in the IPL with Delhi Daredevils and he spent 4 years there before making the switch to Hyderabad back in 2014.

Boasting an IPL career strike rate of 136.20, the left-hander is known for giving his teams an explosive start. And once he gets going, he takes the game away from the opposition in a matter of minutes, just as RCB found out today.

Warner has an IPL average of 32.90, but has yet to score a century for his team. He did, however, score two 100s for his former team, Delhi, with a top score of 109* back in 2012.

Delhi had bought the southpaw for $750,000 initially. Hyderabad paid $880,000 to avail his services a year ago and seemed to have got one of the best deals in the tournament.

He is the only player in 132 years to have been selected for the Australian national team without having any first-class experience.

For his match-winning knock, David Warner gets our award for the ‘Gamechanger of the Match’.