IPL 9 Qualifer 2: David Warner powers Sunrisers Hyderabad to final

New Delhi: David Warner (93 not out) led from front as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Gujarat Lions to make it to their first ever IPL final on Friday.

They will now face Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday.

SRH 163/6; Warner 93, Sharma 27

19.2 overs: David Warner hits the winning run as Sunrisers Hyderabad seal their place in IPL final for the first time.

SRH 158/6; Warner 88, Sharma 27

19th over: Bravo concedes 19 runs in the over. Sunrisers are all but certain to enter their first ever IPL final.

SRH 139/6; Warner 75, Sharma 21

18th over: Sharma makes room outside the off-stump and directs one for six over fine-leg. Sunrisers are not going down without a fight.

SRH 129/6; Warner 72, Sharma 12

17th over: Bipul Sharma hits one big, then steals 2 runs as the over ends with Praveen having a go at Warner.

SRH 118/6; Warner 74, Bipul Sharma 1

16th over: Naman Ojha makes a walkback to the dugout. Bravo's low fulltoss does the trick for Lions.

SRH 116/5; Warner 73, Ojha 10

15th over: 19 runs off that Smith over. Sunrisers are back in this game. 2 sixes and a four in that over.

SRH 97/5; Warner 61, Ojha 3

14th over: Six runs off Bravo's over. A tight over in the circumstances.

SRH 91/5; Warner 57, Ojha 1

13th over: Kaushik ends his spell with another wicket. Ben Cutting tries to cut one, edges and Karthik takes a fine catch.

SRH 82/4; Warner 50, Cutting 7

12th over: Dwayne Bravo and his Champion dance move begins as he dismisses Hooda with a slower'un. Warner will want someone to provide him a much-needed support.

SRH 75/3; Warner 50, Hooda 4

11th over: SRH skipper brings up another fifty. Little lucky to cross the landmark but a good knock nonetheless.

SRH 66/2; Warner 43; Hooda 2

10th over: Dwayne Bravo makes a good start. Only 4 runs from his first over. Sunrisers need to up the ante.

SRH 62/3; Warner 41, Hooda 0

9th over: Kaushik sends Yuvi packing. A big wickets for Lions. India's World Cup-winning hero tries to go after the young spinner but fails to middle the ball as Dwayne Smith takes a catch in the deep.

SRH 61/2; Warner 40, Yuvraj 8

8th over: Warner makes up for two tight overs with a 12-run over. First, he slams a six and then a misfield gives him another boundary.

SRH 49/2; Warner 29, Yuvraj 7

7^th over: Kaushik makes a tight start. Just two runs off his first over. Are Lions pulling back the things with two good overs in a row?  

SRH 46/2; Warner 27, Yuvraj 6

6th over: Raina bowls the final over of powerplay. Yuvraj, Warne take no unnecessary risk.

SRH 43/2; Warner 25, Yuvraj 5

5th over: WICKET! Dwayne Smith's gift of a delivery fetches Lions their second wicket. Henriques offers an easy catch to Dwivedi. Yuvraj though has got going with a four on the first ball.

SRH 33/1; Warner 20, Henriques 11

4th over: Warner and his Aussie teammate are on a roll. Two boundaries in the fourth over.

SRH 22/1; Warner 15, Henriques 5

3rd over: Praveen under pressure as Warner and Henriques hit a boundary each off the Indian medium pacer.

SRH 11/1; Warner 10, Henriques 0

2nd over: Brendon McCullum does the trick. Dhawan's plan to take on B Mac backfires. The former New Zealand skipper races towards the ball from covers, clean pick up and direct-hit ends the southpaw's innings. Warner, meanwhile, hots another four.

SRH 6/0; Warner 5, Dhawan 0

1st over: Warner wastes no time to get going. He makes a walk down the pitch against Praveen Kumar to hit SRH's first four.

Sunrisers Hyderabad innings:

Sunrisers Hyderabad need 163 off 20 overs to win the second qualifier. We will be back shortly with the second innings, stay tuned.

Gujarat Lions innings:

GL 162/7; Jadeja 19, Kulkarni 3

20th over: Bhuvi bowling the last over. He is mixing his deliveries well, changing the pace and trying to contain Bravo. WOW! Bhuvi at his best, Bravo dismissed for 20 off 10 balls. The Lions have done a good job in the end to take the score past 160. And that's it, a dot ball to finish the proceedings. Gujarat Lions manage 162 for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.

GL 154/6; Bravo 18, Jadeja 17

19th over: DJ Bravo joins the party in the house. The West Indies World Cup winner finds the gap, bonus runs for the Lions. The estimated target looks close to 160 from here. Three fours in Boult's last over.

GL 139/6; Bravo 5, Jadeja 16

18th over: Finch brings up his half-century and then, is dismissed. It was a slow full toss from Cutting which the Aussie couldn't connect to; the umpire checked the height of the ball to confirm. A brilliant innings comes to an end, Finch scored 50 off 32 balls, which included seven fours and two sixes.

GL 129/5; Finch 46, Jadeja 14

17th over: Bhuvi back into the attack. Jadeja joins the party, that went clean as a whistle for four runs. There is very small margin for error at this stage of the match if the Lions have to make a point. Nine off the 17th over.

GL 120/5; Finch 44, Jadeja 8

16th over: Finch is on a roll here, sliced the Boult delivery outside the off stump to steal a boundary over the third man area. Straight drive and another boundary for the Aussie, eleven runs off the over.

GL 109/5; Finch 36, Jadeja 6

15th over: Finch is on fire, he has moved to 35 off 24 balls, nine runs off the Sran over.

GL 100/5; Finch 29, Jadeja 3

14th over: Finch is the only man standing here, smashing the deliveries. Henriques. Seventeen runs off the Henriques over, much needed for the Lions at this stage. Four, six, four! Champion stuff!

GL 83/5; Finch 15, Jadeja 0

13th over: Cutting gets rid off the dangerous Dwayne Smith (1) , Sunrisers is dominating the second qualifier here. Smith plays a horrible shot to throw his wicket away, he went to cut the ball wide off the off stump and found Dhawan.

GL 81/4; Finch 15, Smith 0

12th over: Sran is not having a good at office, he dropped a sitter, Finch can be dangerous in the death overs. BIG WICKET! McCullum departs for 32, easy catch for Kumar off Bipul Sharma.

GL 77/3; McCullum 30, Finch 12

11th over: Finch making his intentions clear, he is going after Sran. What a humongous hit that! A four and a six. The Australian, usually an opener, is batting down the order and causing damage to Sunrisers. Sran is clueless.

GL 67/3; McCullum 30, Finch 2

10th over: Henriques bowls a tight over, only four runs off it. Mustafizur's injury brought Boult into the attack and look what he has done. One wicket and a run-out.

GL 63/3; McCullum 28, Finch 0

9th over: It's all happening here at Kotla. Cutting fails to judge the length of DK's shot and misses a chance to catch. The ball goes for six runs. The very next ball, DK falls short of his crease. Boult hits the stumps.

STRATEGIC TIME OUT

GL 52/2; McCullum 27, DK 16

8th over: Henriques into the attack, he had a good game against KKR on Wednesday. Both the right-handers are flicking the ball easily and using gaps on the leg side to snatch cheeky singles.

GL 46/2; McCullum 26, DK 11

7th over: McCullum turning the heat on; playing the attempted yorkers easily, smashing the half-volleys for fours. What a player! DK and McCullum are looking at a partnership here, this will stand in good stead for the Lions.

GL 38/2; McCullum 21, DK 9

6th over: Bipul Sharma, the spinner introduced into the attack, he bowls a tight over and concedes only six runs. DK is looking good here, using his feet well.

GL 32/2; McCullum 19, DK 4

5th over: McCullum steals two fours in Sran's over. He has moved to 19 off 16. Poor piece of bowling from the youngster.

GL 23/2; McCullum 11, DK 4

4th over: Boult, you beauty! Raina trapped leg-before. The Lions skipper goes for 1. This is a huge blow for the Lions. Dinesh Karthik is the new man in.

GL 19/1; McCullum 11, Raina 1

3rd over: Brilliant piece of fielding by Shikhar Dhawan to save four runs, Ojha has moved up to the stumps while Bhuvi is bowling with a short run-up. Only three runs off the over.

GL 16/1; McCullum 9, Raina 0

2nd over: Trent Boult finally gets the ball; interesting move by Sunrisers in the all important tie. Boult has had very less of cricket in the World T20 as well as IPL, no wonder he is being sent on a leather hunt by compatriot McCullum.

GL 7/1; McCullum 1, Raina 0

1st over: Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the Purple Cap holder, starts the proceedings for Sunrisers. Dwivedi and McCullum are the openers for Gujarat Lions. Bhuvi is keeping it wicket-to-wicket, the winner from here will play Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final on Sunday. Ouch! A wide ball in the first over isn't a good sign. What a way to end the over, Dwivedi is out for 5! A simple catch for Trent Boult.

Live updates coming soon.

Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner won the toss and chose to field.

Gujarat Lions, who started the IPL with a formidable performance, will look to create history on Friday against Sunrisers Hyderabad. If they win, it will be the first time in the history of the tournament that a new team will register for a place in the final.

The Lions, led by Suresh Raina, finished on top of the table in their journey to the play-offs. Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum have been impressive in their approach upfront, well supported by Dhawal Kulkarni on the pace department while Ravindra Jadeja handled spin.

Sunrisers, on the other hand, have been a brutal force with a brilliant bowling attack led by Mustafizur Rahman and Barinder Sran.

The second qualifier is going to be between the Gujarat batsmen and the Sunrisers’ bowlers though the latter will miss the services of veteran India pacer Ashish Nehra, now recuperating form a knee surgery. But Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been in splendid form and is the current Purple Cap holder with 21 wickets. Having been beaten twice in the league stage, it will not be easy for the Lions to roar aloud.

They will depend on skipper David Warner and all-rounder Moises Henriques who was good the other night against Kolkata Knight Riders.