SunRisers Hyderabad have won the ninth edition of the IPL after their bowlers came out on top against the power of Kohli, de Villiers, and Gayle in the final at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Karnataka.
Although a pulsating game, it didn't come down to the final ball - and as AB de Villiers watched from the bench with tears in his eyes, SRH pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled the penultimate ball knowing that the game was already in the bag.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) needed 14 runs off the last two balls to win the final, but by this point the match was already lost.
Not all fairy tales have a happy ending and as RCB fell eight runs short, their 40,000-odd disappointed fans returned home.
Even the otherwise expressive Kohli wore a dazed look, as if he couldn’t believe they had lost the final despite cruising at 112 for no loss at the end of 10 overs, chasing 209.
But as in all big chases, it is a matter of just one wicket - and that is exactly what Warner and Co. waited for.
With Chris Gayle (76 off 38 balls) finally out in the 11th over with the score reading 114, the chase collapsed.
Even Kohli (54 off 35 balls) couldn’t take RCB home.
The celebrations from SRH were not as exuberant as one would expect, despite Warner leading a bunch of young players to the title.
While SRH won the title, Sunday will also be remembered for the Gaylestorm that hit Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Gayle has waited and waited as Kohli and de Villiers hogged the limelight right through the tournament. The Jamaican even re-christened Kohli and de Villiers as Batman and Superman for their feats.
On Sunday he decided to show the world why he is known as the Universe Boss, smashing as many as eight sixes.
The electronic scoreboard kept flashing ‘Unstoppable Gayle’, but even that was an understatement as he took every SRH bowler to the cleaners.
But after Gayle departed, one wicket led to another.
Kohli was bowled by Barinder Sran. De Villiers (5) followed soon after, managing just five off six balls as Bipul Sharma had him caught by Moises Henriques at mid-off.
De Villiers’ wicket seemed to restore the spirit back in the SRH unit, and even though Kohli had spoken about wanting his younger guys to enjoy the big occasion, it didn’t happen as the likes of K.L. Rahul (11) failed to rise to the challenge.
Earlier, Warner led from the front after he decided to bat first. With Shikhar Dhawan looking a bit rusty, Warner did the bulk of the scoring.
Dhawan joined in soon as SRH reached 59/0 at the end of the Powerplay. Kohli’s decision to introduce Yuzvendra Chahal did the trick as Dhawan’s (28) sweep found Chris Jordan at the midwicket boundary.
SRH’s decision to send Henriques (4) at number three didn’t work and he departed soon, caught by Chahal off Jordan.
With the score reading 97/2, Yuvraj Singh joined Warner and the two looked to keep the run rate going as the RCB batting line-up was capable of chasing anything below 200 with ease.
Warner cut, drove and pulled with equal ease and Kohli and Co. seemed clueless.
It was almost as if Kohli was just just sitting back an praying for Warner to play a false shot.
The Aussie’s effort to keep the rate going saw him dismissed for a 38-ball 69. Looking to slash S Aravind over third man, he found Iqbal Abdullah inside the circle.
Yuvraj (38) too departed soon after, and it was left for Ben Cutting to finish the innings off in style.
He hit an unbeaten 39 off just 15 balls as SRH managed a defendable 208/7.
Cutting was severe on Shane Watson, as he picked 24 off Watson’s last over.
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