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David Warner has delivered one of his finest T20 innings to help hammer the Indian Premier League team who gave him the boot last year.
David Warner has delivered one of his finest Indian Premier League knocks to hammer the team who dumped him last year.
The Australia opener was adamant it wasn't some personal revenge mission to cane Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.
But his match-winning unbeaten 92 off just 58 balls for Delhi Capitals must have felt sweet for the IPL great.
Warner's innings, which featured 12 fours and three sixes - one of which was his landmark 400th maximum in all T20 cricket - helped propel his latest franchise to an emphatic 21-run win.
The Sunrisers, for whom Warner had cracked more than 4,000 IPL runs in a fruitful seven-year relationship, ended up stripping him of the captaincy and dropping him from the team altogether last season as it all turned sour.
"I didn't need extra motivation," smiled Warner, after collecting the player of the match cheque following his 54th IPL half-century and the 89th fifty of his T20 career.
"We've all seen what happened before in the past. It was just good to get the win on the board."
It was another innings that showcased both the 35-year-old's enduring excellence - and selflessness, as he urged West Indian Rovman Powell at the other end to try to keep hitting boundaries instead of giving him the strike which would surely have led to his fifth IPL hundred.
"I asked DW if I should get a single to allow his 100 but he told me, 'that's not how the game is played', and told me to go big," revealed Jamaican Powell, who cracked 18 off his own bat in that 20th over and ended up on 67no off 35 balls to power Delhi to 3-207.
The pair put on a scintillating 122-run partnership off just 66 balls, leaving Hyderabad to rue their decision to field first, but Warner admitted he was "cooked" near the end of his knock as he ran feverishly in the heat to eke out every extra run possible.
"It's challenging here and I'm getting older! Having Rovi at the other end, he's got some serious power to clear the fence. It was amazing striking," said Warner.
"Man, he hits them clean and, geez, they go a long way. Even Liam Livingstone the other day, 117 metres ... these guys are clearing these fences like anything.
"I'm getting older. I need to get back in the gym. I'm only hitting 85 metres! Hopefully I can hit one for 100 metres at some stage."
Of missing out on his hundred, he shrugged: "I said to him (Powell) if he's there at the end, we can get 210, 220. I'll leave the hundreds to Jos (Buttler)!"
Nicholas Pooran cracked 62 off 34 balls for the Sunrisers and Aiden Markram made 42, but they never threatened the Delhi total, with Mitch Marsh taking 1-36 from his four overs.
Hyderabad's Sean Abbott won his mini 'battle of the Aussies' when he had Marsh caught and bowled for 10, but he went for 47 off his four overs.
