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No end to Warner's run-scoring appetite

Unusual mix-up sees Sunrisers skipper face-up to a ball he should have been watching from the other end

David Warner's appetite for Indian Premier League runs is seemingly unquenchable, with the Australia vice-captain scoring off a delivery he wasn't even supposed to be on strike for.

The unusual hiccup happened six overs into Sunrisers Hyderabad's innings in their clash with the Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium overnight.

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Facing the final ball of the Power Play (the sixth ball of the sixth over), Warner beat the fielder on the third man boundary with an exquisitely timed late cut off paceman Jasprit Bumrah.

Having scored an even number of runs off the delivery (four), Warner should have remained at the end he'd just faced up at.

Image Id: C2E9467B61C44CE28518D2B2B3985B52 Image Caption: Sunrisers openers Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner between overs // BCCI

But following a short drinks break, which he spent receiving a fresh set of gloves and talking to his opening partner Shikar Dhawan at that same end, Warner made his way down to striker's end for the next over.

Nobody appeared to realise the blunder: neither batsman, the umpires, nor the bowler for the next over Mitchell McClenaghan, nor Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma.

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It also failed to attract the attention of the broadcast commentators, despite discussing Warner's shot for four off the final ball of the previous over before the Sunrisers captain faced up again to McClenaghan.

Warner managed a single off the first delivery of the new over, and Dhawan took 14 from the following five balls.

Former India batsman Aakash Chopra did pick up the incident, taking to social media to question how no one had noticed the mistake.



Warner departed a few overs later for 49 to Harbhajan Singh, a ball after switch-hitting the former Test off-spinner for six when he tried to repeat the shot.

Hyderabad reached 8-158 from their 20 overs but it proved too few as Mumbai won with eight balls to spare.

After a lean Test series against India, Warner has been in fine form in the 10th edition of the IPL.

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The left-hander became just the second Australian to pass 7,000 Twenty20 runs earlier in the tournament, while he's passed 50 more times (34) than any other player in the history of the competition.

Warner has racked up 10 of those half-centuries in his past 18 IPL innings, his form this year already carrying on from a stunning streak that saw him tally 848 runs (average 60.57, strike-rate 151.42) en route to a breakthrough IPL title for Sunrisers last year.

The IPL's governing body has been contacted for a response.