IPL 2020: David Warner helps SRH defeat MI as Hyderabad book playoffs berth, knock KKR out

David Warner and Wriddhiman Saha remained unbeaten on 85 and 58 respectively as the duo led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to an excellent 10-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Tuesday.

It was a direct knock-out for the 2016 champions and a victory meant, SRH secured the final berth of IPL 2020's playoffs and thereby eliminated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). At the end of the group stage, both SRH and KKR finished with 14 points each, but SRH went ahead because of a superior net run-rate. The other three teams in the playoffs were MI, Delhi Capitals (DC), and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).

SRH have defeated all the qualified teams in their previous meetings and this fact could be a boaster to the Warner-led side. While DC will take on four-time champions MI in Qualifier 1 on Thursday at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, RCB and SRH will face off in the Eliminator on Friday at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

Courtesy of a collective effort from the SRH attack, MI managed to post only 149 for 8 in 20 overs. They had a poor start as they lost their captain Rohit Sharma, who had missed their previous few matches due to an injury, for a seven-ball four in the second over, leaving MI at 12 for 1. The middle-order batters Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan contributed with 36 and 33 runs respectively before Kieron Pollard's cameo of 25-ball 41 helped MI reach 149 at the end of the first innings.

Warner, who led SRH to the IPL title in IPL 2016, hailed his bowlers for their match-winning performances, especially Shahbaz Nadeem, who was named the Player of the Match for his spell of 2 for 19 in his quota of four overs.

"It feels good now after that dreadful loss against KXIP. They rested a few players but to hold them to 150 on this ground was great. A lot of credit goes to the bowlers, Nadeem was superb. We were trying to be as clinical with the bat then, and it feels good. We try and put our best foot forward, and that stems from the franchise owners. They are great people and it is like a family. We have a never say die attitude and that is how we approach each game.

We had a couple of injuries but they are here in spirit and we are doing it for them. Kane missed out due to injury last year and Jonny took his place, and was absolutely fantastic. But that happens in franchise cricket, we can play only four overseas players. We looked at 2016, we were in the same situation where we had to win every game to win the title," said Warner at the post-match interview.

Warner, who struck 10 fours and a six on Tuesday, now has scored 444 runs in IPL 2020 in 13 innings at an average of 37. Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) captain KL Rahul is currently the leading run-scorer with 670 runs at 55.83 in 14 innings.