Warner error costs Sunrisers dear

A fielding error by David Warner on the penultimate ball of the match cost Sunrisers Hyderabad victory and a guaranteed spot in the IPL finals.

With Royal Challenges Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli at the crease and his team needing four to win, a shot was launched to long-off, where Warner took the grab before taking a backwards step to brace himself and deliver a fist pump. 

However, replays showed Warner's step had seen him step on the boundary rope. Game over, RCB won the rain-reduced match and created a situation where five teams are vying for three spots in the playoffs in the final matches this weekend.

"Obviously it was poor fielding by myself," Warner said after the match.

"I thought I had it but I didn't really see behind me. That's what happens in cricket."

Image Id: ~/media/5AAAC1B0282E45499AE6E4FCB4DF79DE

Warner's misjudgement allowed Bangalore to claim the win // BCCI

Earlier, NSW batsman Moises Henriques had it raining boundaries, the Sydney Sixers skipper smashing a brutal 22-ball 57 then taking two wickets in as many balls.

Those wickets were new Melbourne Renegades signing Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers – the South African many regard as the world's best batsman. Virat Kohli survived what would have been possibly the greatest hat-trick ever taken.

Gayle hit a 10-ball 35 and Kohli guided Bangalore home with an unbeaten 44. Mitchell Starc played his part for Bangalore too by finishing off with 1-26 from his three overs in a game where everyone else who bowled at least two overs going for at least 10 an over.

Warner and Henriques had put Hyderabad in a strong position to secure their spot in the IPL playoffs with their 103-run stand.

Warner's decision to bat first came just before the heavens opened, delaying proceedings for more than two hours. When play got underway, Henriques’ brazen assault on the Bangalore bowlers left even Warner’s batting seeming slow.

If he was looking to get his eye in, Henriques needed just five balls to do that. Off the sixth, he had shimmied down to Yuzvendra Chahal and banished him over the ropes. And then bludgeoned the next through the covers for a four to signal his arrival.

Ashok Dinda, brought in for the first time in the season, had started off by giving away just six from his first over but followed it up with a poor second. Couple of no-balls, including one for height were juxtaposed with a four and a six, both off the blade of Henriques and Dinda had finished off conceded 23 from his two.

It went worse for Bangalore after that. With the damp conditions in tow, Henriques was dropped twice in the matter of eight balls and between those two missed chances, there was a runout opportunity that Bangalore let go of as well.

Henriques bashed Harshal Patel for 21 from the seventh over, and while he missed the chance to score the fastest fifty of the season, he took just 20 balls to get to it.

Warner brought up his fifty soon after and while David Wiese and Starc managed to pull them back by conceding just 18 from the final two overs, Bangalore were facing at a target of 126 from 11 overs.

Tensions were high as the umpires continued play despite a fairly heavy shower. A visibly irate Kohli remonstrated with the umpires while Dinesh Karthik had to be pulled away.

Further rain reduced Bangalore’s innings to six overs with a new target of 81. It only spurred Chris Gayle on.

He smashed the returning Dale Steyn for a six and a couple of fours and then took 24 off Bhuvneshwar Kumar to set up Bangalore’s chase before Henriques’ golden touch for the night brought Hyderabad back.

Off the third ball of the third over, Henriques had Gayle caught at mid-wicket, attempting another maximum and the next delivery ended de Villiers’ one-ball stay. Henriques ended his over conceding just three and when Karn Sharma had conceded just eight from his five balls, Bangalore were 30 away with 13 deliveries remaining.

Warner opted to bowl Bhuvneshwar instead of Henriques for the final over and when he conceded just a single from the first two balls of that over, the decision looked to have been vindicated.

Kohli then carved two deft boundaries and followed up with the shot Warner should have caught, to lead them to a win and to the verge of playoffs.

Hyderabad, who have 14 points, now face a virtual quarter-final, needing to beat Mumbai in their final game on Sunday evening to enter the finals.