The second match of the Indian Premier League 2019 between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens saw the return of Australian opener David Warner back into the IPL fold and debut of Bhuvneshwar Kumar as captain of the Orange army.
Warner was a bundle of nerves upon his IPL return but it did not show, with the suspended batsman blasting 85 for SRH to make an emphatic World Cup statement.
His form is set to create a headache for Australia’s selectors after Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja helped complete a venue-record ODI chase of 285 in Sharjah just hours after Warner’s eye-catching T20 effort.
During the course of his knock, Warner also broke a couple of IPL records as surpassed Gautam Gambhir’s tally for the most number of half-centuries in the tournament, scoring his 37th IPL fifty. Warner now has the most number of runs (762) against Kolkata Knight Riders. He had surpassed Rohit Sharma’s tally of 757 runs on Sunday.
Robin Uthappa’s effort sent Warner back into the hut
Warner made 85 off 53 balls with 9 fours and 3 sixes, before falling to a superb catch by Uthappa off Andre Russell. The southpaw tried to hit the ball in the gap but found the safest pair of hands in the Kolkata side; Uthappa took a blinder just a metre off the ground.
Here’s the video:
— CricBoll (@mycricboll) March 24, 2019
Warner helped SRH to post a total of 181-3, which KKR overhauled in the final over thanks to Andre Russell’s astonishing 19-ball 49.
