David Warner creates couple of records during his brilliant 93* against Gujarat Lions (Stats)

David Warner continued his incredible journey in the VIVO IPL 2016 as he hammered an unbeaten 93 against Gujarat Lions in the second qualifier to propel Sunrisers Hyderabad to their first ever IPL final. It has been a great season for Warner so far as his tally of 779 runs is the second highest by a batsman in a single season of the IPL, the best being Virat Kohli’s incredible 919 runs which have also come this year. Just like Kohli for Royal Challengers Bangalore, the pugnacious Aussie has also led his team from the front and is the greatest driving force behind their super-successful season. The southpaw averages 59.92 in the 2016 IPL and has scored his runs at a breathtaking strike rate of slightly below 150.

In SRH’s qualifier against GL, Warner single-handedly carried his team to victory despite losing partners at regular intervals. None of the other batsmen were able to provide support to their skipper and it was a partnership that he forged with bowling all-rounder Bipul Sharma which eventually took Hyderabad home. David Warner deservedly won the ‘Man of the Match’ award for his Herculean effort which earned his team a spot in the final against RCB.

During his match-winning knock on Friday, Warner was successful in creating a couple of IPL records. Let’s take a closer look at what they were:

Most runs while chasing in an IPL season

While Virat Kohli is touted to be the best chaser in the T20 game, he seems to have been beaten in the chasing game by David Warner in this year’s IPL. Warner has scored a phenomenal 468 runs while chasing in 8 innings this season at an average of 93.60 and a strike rate of close to 160. In doing so, the diminutive batsman has surpassed Robin Uthappa’s tally of 457 runs in the 2014 IPL, a tournament won by the latter’s team, Kolkata Knight Riders.

A staggering fact about this amazing statistic is that SRH won 6 out of the 8 games where they chased and Warner’s contribution was 392 runs at a monumental average of 130.66. The left-hander scored 5 half-centuries in these 6 matches and won the ‘Man of the Match’ award on 3 occasions. These figures not only prove David Warner’s chasing skills but also go on to show how instrumental he has been in Hyderabad’s success this year.

Most 50-plus scores in an IPL career

Although this is not a record that Warner created in the match against Gujarat Lions, he surely managed to extend his lead at the top of the heap. His tally of 33 fifty-plus scores in IPL cricket is the most by any batsman in the history of the tournament. This includes as many as 31 half-centuries, which is also a record that he shares with Gautam Gambhir. In fact, Gambhir has taken 32 innings more than Warner to get there and it puts the latter on top of this list, too. The two centuries that David Warner has scored in his IPL career thus far have been the difference, though, and have earned him this remarkable record.

Even though the Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper may have a number of batting records in his kitty, the one thing he will want desperately at the moment is the prestigious IPL trophy which has eluded him for 8 years.