Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bangalore to win IPL 2016, Stars and Flops

Over 50 days and 60 matches, and we have a new Indian Premier League (IPL) champion. When the tournament began, not many had Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at the top of their list. We saw how important bowling is. Post match, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) skipper Virat Kohli said that SRH won the title because of their bowling attack. Throughout the tournament, SRH’s batting fortune revolved predominantly around their skipper David Warner and their strength was bowling. The story of the final was not very different. Also Read: Twitterati hail Ben Cutting’s heroics in IPL 2016 final

Warner won the toss at Bengaluru and elected to bat. It caught many by surprise but Warner had faith in his bowlers. The contest was set to be between RCB batters and SRH bowlers with Warner expected to give the apt start to the Orange Cap. Warner got SRH to a flyer and added 63 with Shikhar Dhawan for the first wicket. In doing so, the pair became the first in IPL history to notch up over 700 runs.

Warner slammed a 38-ball 69 to provide SRH the early momentum. Yuvraj Singh, the man who made a massive difference to the SRH campaign since his return, contributed yet again with an invaluable 38 from 23 balls. Once again, the southpaw was a treat to watch and we wonder why he will not be a part of the Indian side touring Zimbabwe early next month. Also Read: IPL 2016 Final, Pick of the tweets: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad at Bengaluru

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Turning Point 1: However, Ben Cutting‘s knock proved to be the difference. At one point, 180 looked like a score SRH were targeting. Cutting’s hurricane unbeaten 39 from 15 balls got them to 208, eight too much in the end. Shane Watson‘s last over went for 24.

RCB bowlers made the chase look easy. Chris Gayle and Kohli added 114 from 63 balls. It was Cutting again, who dismissed Gayle and the bad news was it meant, AB de Villiers was in.

Turning Point 2: RCB needed 61 from 38 balls and de Villiers was at the crease. RCB were in the game but Bipul Sharma got de Villiers to mistime one. That was it. A blow, RCB could not recover from.

SRH bowlers, especially Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the eventual Purple Cap holder, and Mustafizur Rahman, bowled as per their reputation to help SRH to an eight run win. Maybe, RCB missed th services of Sarfaraz Khan, who despite of a good start made way for Sachin Baby as the latter is a better fielder.

Making their debut in 2013, they changed captain thrice, made their second qualification to playoff count by winning their maiden title. For city of Hyderabad, after Deccan Chargers in 2009, they have another reason to rejoice.

Brief Scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad 208 for 7 in 20 overs [David Warner 69 (38), Yuvraj Singh 38 (23), Ben Cutting 39 (15)*; Sreenath Aravind 4-0-30-2, Chris Jordan 4-0-45-3] bt Royal Challengers Bangalore 200 for 7 in 20 overs [Chris Gayle 76 (38), Virat Kohli 54 (35); Ben Cutting 4-0-35-2, Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-25-0] by eight runs

MOM: Ben Cutting

MOS: Virat Kohli