Half-centuries from David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan laid the platform for Sunrisers Hyderabad to cruise to a target of 167 and pick up their first win of the season on Monday. They were aided by a dewy outfield, but Royal Challengers Bangalore would have known their total was never going to be good enough to test Sunrisers on a flat Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch. Having been sent in, RCB were 93-2 in the 12th over of their innings, with Virat Kohli batting on 41, when two wickets in two balls from Ravi Bopara precipitated a slide that saw them lose their last eight wickets for 73 runs. RCB were always going to struggle to defend 166, and a poor start from their seamers only made their task harder. The first ball of Sunrisers' chase encapsulated the story that was about to unfold. Sean Abbott sent down a full-toss, and Warner simply met it with the full face of his bat to send it screaming away to the extra-cover boundary. By the end of the second over, Warner and Shikhar Dhawan had hit five more fours and a six, against Abbott and Harshal Patel's assortment of hit-me balls, and Sunrisers had shaved 36 runs off their target of 167.
The total of 166 was far less than what RCB seemed set for during a breezy first-wicket partnership between Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli. With the ball coming on beautifully and the outfield lightning-quick, both batsmen were able to find the boundary by simply pushing the ball into gaps. Gayle fell in the sixth over, flicking Praveen Kumar in the air, but Kohli was still batting fluently at the other end, and a spilled return catch from Karn Sharma in the ninth over may have raised Sunrisers' worries of having to chase an outlandish target. But that wasn't to happen. Karn got rid of Dinesh Karthik and Bopara rattled Kohli's off stump when he tried to make room and force him away through the off side. Next ball, Mandeep Singh looked to flick a legcutter and popped the ball into the off side off his leading edge. There didn't seem to be anyone in its way, until Warner flew to his right from short cover and plucked it out one-handed. It wouldn't be his last eye-catching contribution of the day.
