HYDERABAD: Captain David Warner led from the front with a scintillating unbeaten 90 as Sunrisers Hyderabad thrashed Mumbai Indians by seven wickets to notch up their first win of the IPl-9 season here today.
Chasing a target of 143, Warner anchored the Sunrisers innings with a masterclass effort after his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan (2) was out in the first over itself as the home side romped home with 15 balls to spare at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Warner hit seven fours and four sixes in his 59-ball unbeaten knock as he carried his bat through the innings to help the Sunrisers bounce back after losing their earlier two matches. The swashbuckling Australian curbed his aggressive intent initially before hitting a flurry of lusty blows towards the end.
Fittingly, Warner hit the winning runs as he sent a Mitchell McClenaghan delivery for a six as the Sunrisers reached 145 for 3 in 17.3 overs to the wild cheer of the home crowd.
For Mumbai, it was their third loss in four matches.
The Sunrisers, who have been hit hard by the injury of the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Ashish Nehra, made a stuttering start in their run chase as Dhawan continued his horrible run of form as he was out in the fifth ball of the innings, bowled by Tim Southee.
Warner then dropped anchor and curbed his natural aggressive instinct a bit and chose his shots to find the boundaries.
At the halfway mark, the Sunrisers were placed comfortably at 66 for 1 but immediately they lost Moises Henriques (20) who stitched 62 crucial runs for the second wicket with Warner to lay the foundation for the win.
Henriques was out to a fine delivery off Southee which swung and took the outside edge of the batsman.
Englishman Eoin Morgan (11) did not contribute much as he was out, courtesy an outstanding catch by Hardik Pandya at deep midwicket off the bowling of Southee.
The Sunrisers were 100 for 3 at that time, needing another 43 runs off 34 balls and Warner took his side home in style.
For Mumbai, Southee took three wickets for 24 runs from his four overs while all his bowling colleagues went wicketless.