Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner has expressed his pleasure in opening the innings with Jonny Bairstow after humiliating Kings XI Punjab by 69 runs on Wednesday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
“I don’t know why people think there’s so much hatred between the two countries! It’s going well, at the moment I’m just giving him strike,” said Warner in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Look we really enjoy batting together out there. We tried to take it to them and fortunately enough today we were able to get through the powerplay.”
Bairstow smashed a quickfire 97 off 55 balls to help Hyderabad in posting challenging total of 201/6. Opting to bat first, Sunrisers were off to a brilliant start as Bairstow and captain David Warner added 160 runs for the opening wicket with the latter scoring 52 off 40.
Bairstow, who was declared player of the match, hailed Warner as well. “He’s (Warner) good fun, we know what a quality player he is. It was his 50th fifty in IPL, that record speaks for itself,” said Bairstow.
Warner was also all praise for spinner Rashid Khan who rattled the Punjab batting line-up with his spell of 3/12 as KL Rahul’s men succumbed to their fifth defeat in six matches in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“He’s (Rashid) a world-class bowler, it’s great to have him. He always delivers in pressure situations. He loves that stuffs. What a player,” he said.
While Bairstow’s innings was laced with seven boundaries and six sixes, Warner’s knock contained five boundaries and a hit into the stands.
Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi, with three wickets in quick intervals had halted Hyderabad’s momentum for a bit. But after his spell of 29/3, Kane Williamson with his 10-ball knock of 20 runs made sure the Orange Army crossed the 200-run mark.
For Hyderabad, Rashid Khan was the chief architect while defending with his miserly figures while Khaleel Ahmed and T Natarajan, too, rose to the occasion and picked two wickets each.