Mustafizur's Hyderabad see off Bangalore fightback in thrilling final to claim first IPL title

Sunrisers Hyderabad have earned their maiden Indian Premier League title prevailing over Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 runs in a high-scoring final.

Sports Deskbdnews24.com
Published : 29 May 2016, 04:29 PM
Updated : 29 May 2016, 11:48 PM

Electing to bat first, Hyderabad rode on knocks from skipper David Warner and Yuvraj Singh before a late assault from Ben Cutting powered them to an imposing 208-7 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday.

Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli gave Bangalore a robust base by notching 114 for the first wicket. But Hyderabad bowlers fought back with quick wickets before coasting to the win at their opponents’ backyard.

Returning from an injury that kept him out of Qualifier 2, Hyderabad's Bangladeshi ace Mustafizur Rahman was expensive as he gave away 37 runs for a wicket.

Faced with an asking rate of more than 10.40 from the start, Gayle (76 off 38 balls) looked ominous from the beginning of the chase.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar swung the ball first up but Gayle soon showed his true colours.

Backed by a roaring home crowd, the tall Caribbean batsman smashed three sixes and two fours off Barinder Sran and Cutting to plunder 29 in two overs as the home team galloped to 55 from the first five overs.

Mustafizur was introduced in the last over of the powerplay and applied the brakes on the onslaught by giving away just four runs.

Having taken his T20 career run-tally past 9,000 earlier, Gayle blasted another six straight down the ground in the next over to reach his fifty off just 25 balls, while Kohli (54 off 35) had just reached his double figures at the other end.

Warner's decision to stick to Moises Henriques backfired when Gayle hammered 21 in the over as the home team bolted to 100 in just nine overs while Hyderabad desperately searched for the much-needed breakthrough.

Kohli joined the party in the next over, hitting a six and a four in the first two balls off Mustafizur, who came back strongly in the following deliveries.

The 20-year-old Bangladeshi then spilled a tough catch at short third man to let Kohli off, but Cutting took out the threat of Gayle next ball when the Caribbean holed out at third man.

Gayle had struck eight sixes and four boundaries to bring the asking rate below 10 by then.

Kohli launched Sran over cover for a six to reach his fifty off 32 balls but the 23-year-old seamer got his man when the right-handed batsman stepped out again and played on, falling just 27 runs shy of 1,000 this edition.

Sitting in a strong position to pull off the chase, Bangalore suffered big blows when AB de Villiers was dismissed for just 5 before Mustafizur sent Shane Watson (11) packing two overs later.

The match boiled down to Bangalore needing 30 runs off the last two overs after Kumar bowled a superb 18th over, conceding just seven off it.

Mustafizur started the penultimate over well - with a run out in the first ball, a dropped catch in the next - before missing his length in the last ball that went for a six.

Kumar then restricted the batsmen to nine runs in the final over to bring his team their maiden IPL glory.

Earlier, Warner (69 off 38 balls) laid a strong base at the top but Bangalore fought back in the death overs to stop Hyderabad taking the game away from them.

Some spectacular hitting in the final overs by Cutting (39 off 15 balls), however, made sure Hyderabad posted in excess of 200.

Electing to bat first, Warner and Shikhar Dhawan (25) got their side off to a breezy start at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

The duo hammered 19 runs off Shane Watson's fifth over and 13 more from the next over by Gayle as Hyderabad raced to 59 at the end of powerplay.

Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, second-highest wicket-taker behind Kumar, took out Dhawan in the next over but Warner kept his foot on the gas and blazed away to his half-century off just 24 deliveries.

Henriques (4) departed in a hurry but Yuvraj, in his first IPL final, joined Warner and creamed two boundaries and a six in three balls to maintain the brisk scoring rate.

Having cracked eight boundaries and three sixes, Warner tried to slash hard at seamer Sreenath Aravind but gave a thick edge to short third man.

The knock took his run-tally to 848 in the tournament, second behind table topper Kohli.

The 34-year-old Yuvraj seemed up for the task in the death overs when he clubbed a Chahal floater deep into the stands for a huge 107-metre six.

Sunrisers' hopes of a late flourish, however, took a blow, albeit temporarily, when Chris Jordan sent Yuvraj back. The visitors were 148-5 with 3.5 overs still remaining.

Aussie allrounder Cutting then launched a spectacular assault. He bludgeoned 52 runs off the last three overs, smashing three sixes and as many boundaries to rack up the highest total ever posted in an IPL final.