David Warner etched his name on the record books by becoming the first player in the history of the Indian Premier League to register 50 fifty-plus scores. Warner scored 52 against Kings XI Punjab to get to the milestone on Thursday in Abu Dhabi.
Warner currently has 46 fifties – also the most by some distance – and four centuries in IPL. Second on the list is RCB captain Virat Kohli with 42 fifty-plus scores to his name in the IPL.
Opting to bat, SRH got off to a flyer with openers Warner and Bairstow whacking KXIP bowlers all around the park. The duo bludgeoned the bowling attack and smashed 58 runs in the powerplay. Bairstow and Warner continued their onslaught and slammed boundaries at regular intervals.
SRH reached the 100 run mark without losing a wicket in just 10 overs as KXIP bowlers struggled to put a brake. Meanwhile, Bairstow completed his fifth IPL half-century. Also, Bairstow and Warner brought up their fifth 100-run stand in the IPL.
Bairstow continued whacking as SRH smashed 20 runs in the 11th over bowled by Glenn Maxwell. Meanwhile, Warner too completed his half-century as SRH raced to 160 runs in the 15 overs.
KXIP finally got the breakthrough as Ravi Bishnoi dismissed Warner in the 16th over. Three balls later Bairstow was caught in front of the stumps as KXIP finally got rid of the two openers.
In the very next over, Arshdeep Singh dismissed Manish Pandey as Punjab staged a late comeback in the game.
Bishnoi again wreaked havoc and sent Abdul Samad back in the dugout after he tried to go for the big slog. SRH lost 5 wickets in a span of three overs and got reduced to 175/5 with Kane Williamson still on crease.
In the end, Williamson and played some fine shots which enabled SRH to get past 200 run mark.
(With ANI inputs)
Source: IPLT20.com