David Warner's feet touch boundary ropes to gift victory to RCB in frantic finish to 6-over chase

David Warner’s premature celebration and Virat Kohli’s timely one

In one of the most sensational finishes ever to a cricket match, Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli slammed a six off the penultimate ball of the innings to take his team to a 6-wicket victory. David Warner, the Sunrisers Hyderabad captain, appeared to catch the ball comfortably near the boundary ropes, but inexplicably took a few steps backward after pulling off the catch. His feet touched the boundary ropes, gifting a six to Kohli and a massive victory to the Bangalore outfit, who climb to second on the points table with one game left to play.

Earlier, RCB were given a target of 81 to be chased down in 6 overs, in a game truncated by persistent rainfall. Chris Gayle got the visiting side to a tremendous start, racing to 35 runs off 9 balls before holing out in the deep. AB De Villiers departed in the same over, plunging the chasing side into a bit of a crisis, but Kohli stepped up to play a true captain’s innings, taking his team over the line with one ball to spare.

Poor bit of fielding from me: Warner

Warner, whose two steps backward cost his team the game, said after the match, “It was a poor bit of fielding. I thought I had got the catch, but didn’t look behind me.”

Gayle compounded the tour-de-force nature of the finish by running onto the pitch and going through a series of rapid push-ups on the pitch to celebrate. In explanation, he said, “ I was very pumped, very very pumped. I did 55 push-ups.”

Warner’s gaffe at the boundary ropes has drawn analogies on the social media to Lagaan, where also a match was decided in sensational fashion by the captain of a team stepping onto the rope after having pouched a catch off the last ball.

Captain Russell did it in Lagaan! Opposition cptn Bhuvan hit a 6. Captain Warner did that in Hyd. Opposition cptn Virat hit a 6! #SRHvsRCB

— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) May 15, 2015

In the movie Lagaan, Bhuvan was the Batsman, But today Bhuvan was the bowler. LOL! #SRHvsRCB #RCBvsSRH #IPL

— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) May 15, 2015

That's why watching Lagaan should be mandatory for white players. https://t.co/2FkUKWRXYj

— Faking News (@fakingnews) May 15, 2015