Sunrisers Hyderabad claimed their maiden Indian Premier League title by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 runs thanks to David Warner’s fifty and cameos from Yuvraj Singh and Ben Cutting.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, David Warner got Sunrisers off to the perfect start as he scored yet another fifty against RCB. Although he got out for 69, Sunrisers got past 200 thanks to cameos from Yuvraj Singh and Ben Cutting.
In response, Chris Gayle got RCB off to the perfect start by smashing the bowlers to all corners of the Chinnaswamy stadium. Once he fell, Virat Kohli took over but once both he and AB de Villiers got out, the hosts were in trouble and that was compounded by some excellent death bowling by Mustafizur Rahman and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Cutting praises Warner
Ben Cutting became the second overseas player to claim the Man of the Match award in an IPL final.
“It was exciting to play in front of a big crowd,” he said. “David Warner has set it up, like he has done all season. We won't be standing here, if not for Davey. Bhuvi with the purple cap has been fantastic all season. That's the thing about Bangalore. You can go the journey as the batsman and bowler.”
Shikhar Dhawan said: “It has been a great season for me and the team. Davey lead from the front from the first game. It has been a great journey. I feel our team is balanced. As the tournament went ahead, we put big runs on the board. Cutting has played just two or three matches, but has performed well.”
Bhuvneshwar Kumar on his plan towards the end. He said: “I just had to keep myself composed. Getting yorkers right in the best way to bowl yorkers. Warner just said to keep my cool and bowl the yorkers.
Yuvraj Singh: We [I] had won the World Cup and now the IPL trophy. Great performance from the team. We came back strongly. Bhuvi and fizz, great finish in the end. As long as the trophy comes, I don't mind injuries, it is a great effort.
Here are the best reactions from the cricket fraternity:
Plenty of praise came SRH's way, Harbhajan Singh:
Russel Arnold:
Darren Sammy:
Steven Smith:
Ian Bishop:
Dean Jones:
Jason Holder:
Mark Butcher:
Dirk Nannes:
Isa Guha:
Chris Gayle was it his big-hitting best, Mark Butcher: :
Alex Tudor: :
Aakash Chopra: :
Harsha Bhogle: :
Yuvraj Singh got special praise for his cameo, Ed Smith:
Isa Guha: :
Matthew Hayden: :
Jimmy Neesham was it best during the final:
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