Sunrisers Hyderabad is the new IPL Champion!

Captain David Warner hailed Sunrisers Hyderabad for staying cool in the heat of an Indian Premier League final to claim their maiden title at the home of opponents Royal Challengers Bangalore.

848 – Runs scored by Sunrisers Hyderabad’s David Warner.

Warner smashed the ball to all parts of the ground and took a special liking to Shane Watson whose opening over – the fifth of the innings – cost 18 runs. Warner fell in the 14th over and Yuvraj in the 17th but Ben Cutting’s 15-ball blitz ensured they had enough on the board for their bowlers. Gayle’s 76 and Kohli’s 54 cemented their chances of successfully chasing down the total of 209.

Mustafizur grabbed the award after winning a landslide 83.2 percent of the votes in the poll on the tournament’s official website – IPLT20.com.

Aravind got the prized scalp of Warner, who threw away his wicket while trying to slash at a widish delivery and got caught at short third man.

The red-hot streaks of Kohli (973 runs), who played some astonishing innings in a season in which he scored four centuries, and the South African AB de Villiers (687), who is the supreme innovator, would have been sufficient to frighten anyone but the most determined bowling line-up, which Sunrisers proved to be. To win in Bangalore, we were underdogs. “I bowled the first ball to him with a bit of width (which got driven for a six over extra cover), but thereafter got my radar right and came back well”.

Chasing a record total in the final, Gayle struck from the start, raining sixes with medium-pacers Barinder Sran and Cutting taking a severe beating.

Cutting gave Hyderabad their first breakthrough to send back the risky Gayle, who smoked four fours and eight sixes during his 38-ball stay at the crease. In the last over off Watson, Cutting plundered 24 runs, hitting three sixes and a four.

Star batsman AB de Villiers soon followed Kohli into the dug-out, giving the Hyderabad bowlers a chance to get back into the game. He snared telling figures of two for 35, including the important scalps of Gayle and the talented Lokesh Rahul.

“To end this (edition) with a win in the final, it’s been a great journey”.

“We spent a lot of time together off the field which came in handy when the times were tough for the team”.

The Aussie said of his illness fears on the CA website: “A couple of weeks ago I was really sick and I didn’t leave my bed for 10 days and didn’t think I was playing IPL this season”. This was for the people of Bangalore.