Sunrisers Hyderabad have qualified for the 2016 IPL final on Sunday after defeating the Gujarat Lions in Dehli by four wickets.
The Lions were sent into bat by Sunrisers captain David Warner and they go off to a slow start but late hitting from Aaron Finch who made 50 and Dwayne Bravo who made a quickfire 20 got their team up to 162 from their 20 overs. In reply, the Sunrisers kept losing wickets consistently but a brilliant innings from Warner who batted through the full innings to finish 93 not out saw his team win the game and advance to the final.
Sunrisers won the toss and chose to bowl first
At the toss, Sunrisers captain Warner won it and chose to bowl first against the Lions in a game with high stakes placed on it with the winner advancing through to the final.
The Lions began their innings poorly losing two early wickets to leave the score on 38 for two after six overs. The wickets to fall early were Eklavya Dwivedi for five from five balls and Suresh Raina for one from five balls. Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the wicket of Dwivedi while Trent Boult got the big wicket of Raina to put their side on top at the start.
Dinesh Karthik then joined Brendon McCullum at the wicket and the pair put on 44 before Karthik was run out by Boult for 26 from 19 balls. McCullum continued his onslaught after that but he was out trying one too many shots for 32 from 29 balls of the bowling of Bipul Sharma.
Dwayne Smith came in next but he didn't last very long as he fell for one from three balls of the bowling of Ben Cutting to leave the score on 83 for five. The wicket of Smith then brought Finch and Ravindra Jadeja together in the middle.
Finch smashed fifty to get the Lions up to 162
The pair put on 51 for the sixth wicket as Finch showed his class with some big shots. Finch was finally out for a well made 50 from 32 balls of the bowling of Cutting who outfoxed his fellow Australian.
Late hitting from Jadeja and Bravo who came to the crease at the fall of the Finch wicket got their team some valuable runs at the end to get the score up to 162 for seven from their 20 overs. Bravo made a quick fire 20 from 10 balls before Kumar bowled him during the last over. Jadeja finished 19 not out as the Lions gave their bowlers something to bowl at.
Sunrisers lost wickets consistently at the start of the innings
In reply, the Sunrisers lost two early wickets but managed to get to 46 for 2 which was a decent start in the first six overs. The wickets to fall were Shikhar Dhawan for a duck from four balls as he was run out by McCullum and Moisés Henriques for 11 from six balls of the bowling of Smith.
Yuvraj Singh came in at number four and struggled to get going and was finally out for eight from 13 balls of the bowling of Shvil Kaushik who got a crucial breakthrough for the Lions. Deepak Hooda then joined Warner at the crease but didn't last long either as he was out for four from nine balls of the bowling of Bravo.
Warner brought up his fifty in the twelfth over of the run chase of 35 balls and held the key if the Sunrisers were going to chase the required runs to make it through to the final. The problem for Warner though is that he continued to lose partners at the other end as Cutting fell for eight from seven balls of the bowling of Kaushik.
Naman Ojha was next to fall for the Sunrisers for 10 from eight balls of the bowling of Bravo to leave the score on 117-6 in the sixteenth over.
The wicket of Ojha brought Sharma to the crease to join Warner to try and rescue the game for their team. The pair did this brilliantly as they hit an unbeaten 46 partnership from 21 balls to see the Sunrisers win the game by four wickets with four balls remaining.
Warner and Sharma's fantastic partnership see their side to victory
Warner finished the game 93 not out while Sharma finished 27 not out as the pair remained ice cold to get the crucial victory which takes them through to the final to face the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
