Finch, Warner power Hyderabad to 184/1

Aaron Finch (88) and David Warner (58) broke through the shackles with a facile unbeaten fifties as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted an impressive 184 for one in their IPL match against the Delhi Daredevils in Dubai on Friday.

Hyderabad were stifled in the first half of the match before Finch and Warner put up an 128-run partnership to infuse life into their team’s effort which looked ordinary to start with.

Delhi, boosted by the return of their regular captain Kevin Pietersen, put up a decent performance with the ball in the first 10 overs with spinner Shahbaz Nadeem producing economical figures of 4-0-24-1.

However, Finch and Warner broke through following the dismissal of Hyderabad skipper Shikhar Dawan (33) to steer the team to a formidable total.

The Australian pair put together an unbroken second wicket stand, which came off 82 deliveries.

Finch was the more destructive of the two, smacking Jaydev Unadkat for 18 runs in just four deliveries of the 18th over, which yielded 21 in all. Unadkat was, in fact, the most expensive Delhi bowler, conceding 43 runs in his four barren overs.

In fact, barring Nadeem, all of Delhi’s bowlers came in for severe thrashing with strike pacer Mohammed Shami ending up with figures of 0/36 in his four overs.

Dhawan and Finch gave Hyderabad a steady start by collecting 56 runs for the first wicket. Even though the pace of scoring was not too high but it set the platform for Finch and Warner to go on a rampage.

While Finch struck eight fours and four sixes, Warner smashed three boundaries and an equal number of hits over the fence