There was carnage at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad as David Warner and Jonny Bairstow ran riot with the bat showing no mercy towards the Royal Challengers Bangalore bowlers in their Indian Premier League match on Sunday, March 31.
Bairstow and Warner opened the batting for SRH and right from the word go, both batsmen took off. In the very first over of the innings bowled by Moeen Ali, Warner and Bairstow hit him for boundaries. Virat Kohli turned to Umesh Yadav in the next over but Warner greeted him with a six straight over his head. Yuzvendra Chahal and Mohammed Siraj followed with their respective first overs but nothing changed as they were hit for 11 runs each.
Prayas Ray Barman made his IPL debut at 16 years of age and bowled a good first where he conceded just 6 runs. But from his second over onwards, he too faced the music from the Aussie and the Englishman. Bairstow took off from the 9th over of the innings. He was batting on 36 from 25 balls but at the end of the 10th over, he had reached 67 off 34.
The English wicketkeeper-batsman carried on to notch up his century off 52 balls and a rare moment of Aussie-English embrace was also on view when Warner ran to hug Bairstow after the latter notched up his century. Following his century, continued to plunder the opposition bowling hitting a six off the very next ball. Bairstow finally perished on 114 when he mistimed a Chahal delivery which was smartly caught by Umesh Yadav.
Warner, at the other end, kept his glorious strokeplay going -- sometimes he switch hit the spinner and at other times he was pulling them for flat sixes on the leg side. Even though he struck the ball all around the ground, his running at 42 degrees Celcius was the most memorable. The Aussie ran like a panther on the prowl throughout the innings and did not slow down even in the final couple of overs.
Warner brought up his century off 54 balls with a boundary down to third man off a wide full toss and celebrated like a man possessed. Warner leapt and ran shouting "Come On!" before kissing the SRH badge on his helmet.
Here's how Twitter reacted.
Kohli as captain vs Kohli as batsman !!
— Boring... (@graphicalcomic) March 31, 2019
#SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/reochRqezA
#SRHvRCB #RCBvSRH
— Puneet B (@OnestoPuneet) March 31, 2019
Situation of
RCB fans, franchise, players especially bowlers.. pic.twitter.com/seKc1i9VHL
RCB searching for winning a match this #IPl2019.#SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/ikJ5pDRsjY
— MunNaa ?️♀️ (@Munnaa09) March 31, 2019
RCB Fans Right Now #SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/HzfmCfRcwe
— Chaudhary Vasi چودھری وصی ?? (@IChaudharyVasi) March 31, 2019
*Le RCB bowlers after beaten harder by Jonny Bairstow and David Warner..#SRHvRCB #IPL2019 pic.twitter.com/42B2DpgNcy
— 20may (@mistervismy) March 31, 2019
Warner and Bairstow#SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/gW9I1OpttD
— Ilyas Ahmed (@itsilyasahmed) March 31, 2019
RCB bowlers today#SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/NQwIgEm5cX
— pranav (@being_pranav_) March 31, 2019
#SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/uCjLRDGU9w
— Dileep (@Viratholic) March 31, 2019
#SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/uCjLRDGU9w
— Dileep (@Viratholic) March 31, 2019
Earlier in the day, captain Kohli won the toss and said, "We will bowl first. We have added another spinner to our team today. This pitch will play slow in the first half. And it will be beautiful to bat on in the evening." But the ball came onto the bat very nicely and aided strokeplay which was well leveraged by the SRH batsmen.
RCB will now have to chase down 232 as they stare at their third successive defeat in as many IPL matches this season.