THE EX RETURNS TO HAUNT SRH

Warner Cracks Sublime 92*, Powell Blazes Away To 67* As Capitals Stay Hyderabad

- Arani.Basu

If there is one streetfighter you don’t want to irk, then it has to be David Warner. Sunrisers Hyderabad found it out in their first encounter after the acrimonious separation between the two parties. Delhi Capitals have been yearning for one big inning from their batters and they had Warner taking a strike, sniffing revenge against a franchise which had ‘betrayed’ him last season.

Warner came out unbeaten with a 58-ball 92 on Thursday night at the Brabourne Stadium, chest thrusting out after helping Capitals post a daunting 207/3. The cornerstone of the big tally was an unbeaten 122-run partnership (66 balls) with Rovman Powell who finished 67 not out off 35 balls. The ex-SRH talisman lived up to his X-factor billing when Capitals had to make two forced changes as Prithvi Shaw was under the weather and Axar Patel was nursing a groin injury.

Warner and Powell’s onslaught coupled with some good new-ball bowling, led by Khaleel Ahmed (3/30) had put the target beyond SRH as Capitals notched up their fifth win of the season in 10 games, a much-needed boost to their campaign. Nicholas Pooran threatened to chase the target down by himself with a belligerent 34-ball 62 while hitting six 6s but he was left with too much to do as SRH fell 21 short while losing eight wickets.