STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsWarner lights up Brabourne
All eyes were on David Warner as he set foot at the Brabourne Stadium for the Delhi Capitals against his former franchise, Sunrisers Hyderabad, for the first time this season.
In the absence of Prithvi Shaw, the onus to get the side off to a flying start in the powerplay relied heavily on Warner. Despite losing Mandeep Singh and Mitchell Marsh early in the innings, the southpaw took the attack to the opposition bowling unit in the first six overs.
En route to this destructive innings, Warner recorded the most fifties by a batter in T20s surpassing Chris Gayle, who has 88 half-centuries.
Warner joins an elite list
In a high-scoring clash, Warner laid the foundation with an unbeaten 92 off 58 deliveries with 12 boundaries and three massive hits over the fence.
The three sixes in the innings powered Warner to become only the third Australian batter to smash 400 sixes in the T20s. While he has 401 maximums to his name, Shane Warne leads the table with 463, followed by Aaron Finch with 426 sixes.
Rovman Powell's blazing innings
One of the most attacking players in the Windies lineup, Rovman Powell, failed to create any significant impact in the first half of the season.
However, the right-handed batter has produced consistent performances in the last couple of matches and notched up his first half-century in the tournament.
The 28-year old scored an unbeaten 67 off 35 deliveries at a strike rate of 191.42, which is the third-best for him in T20s whenever he has faced a minimum of 30 deliveries.
In 2018, he scored 84 off 40 balls at a strike rate of 210 against St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, which is the highest for him in this format.
Record-breaking stand that powered Delhi to a win
After losing skipper Rishabh Pant on the last ball of the ninth over with the score reading 85 runs, Delhi were in dire need of a partnership to steady the innings and propel the team to a massive first-innings total.
On a wicket conducive for batters, Powell joined Warner in the middle and started accumulating the ones and the twos to keep the scoreboard ticking.
The duo added 122 runs in 11 overs, creating the record for the second-highest fourth-wicket partnership for Delhi Capitals in the competition.
Warner was involved in yet another mammoth stand during his stint with the Delhi side in 2010 when he forged a 128-run partnership with Paul Collingwood against Kolkata Knight Riders, which is the highest.
Kane Williamson's bittersweet day
The skipper of the Orange Army, Kane Williamson, has plenty to ponder after his side went down by 21 runs in a high-scoring clash.
While Williamson was dismissed for four off 11 deliveries in pursuit of 208, the right-handed batter became the first New Zealand batter to score 3000 runs as captain in T20s.
Brendon McCullum, currently the Head Coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, is second on this list with 2826 runs.
Kuldeep weaves his magic
The trump card for Rishabh Pant and the Capitals in this edition of the IPL, Kuldeep Yadav, has been the standout performer for the team and picked up wickets at regular intervals.
With the wicket of Karthik Tyagi on the first ball of the final over, Kuldeep took his tally to 18 wickets in the season, which is the most by a Capitals spinner in a single season of the IPL, surpassing the previous best of 17 wickets by Amit Mishra in 2010 season.
