IPL 2019
\nNews Desk
\nHyderabad
\nAustralia\u2019s David Warner Monday hit a scintillating 81 to seal his comeback from scandal in his last Indian Premier League game before heading to the Cricket World Cup.
\nWarner\u2019s knock off 56 balls powered Hyderabad to a 45-run win over Kings XI Punjab after posting a mammoth 212-6 and improve their chances of making the play-offs.
\nThe left-handed opener ended the Twenty20 tournament on top of the batting chart with 692 runs including eight fifties and a century in 12 innings.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s obviously great to get out there and do your job properly,\u201d Warner said after receiving the Man of the Match award at Hyderabad\u2019s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. \u201cThe ground staff have worked tirelessly to prepare good wickets and then it\u2019s about going back to basics and backing your instincts.\u201d
\nWarner and Smith served a 12-month ban for cheating in a Cape Town Test in March last year along with teammate Cameron Bancroft, who was banned for nine months.
\nBut the disgraced duo have brought back the focus to their game ahead of Australia\u2019s World Cup training camp in Brisbane starting on Thursday.
\nWarner said he worked hard on his game during the suspension period and the results are there see.
\n\u201cI think it just goes back to being still as a batsman. I get the tendency to moving around a bit if there have been a few dots. But I have worked hard over the last few months,\u201d Warner said.
\n\u201cJust put the bat down and tried to be the best man I can be, the best husband I can be and that\u2019s worked for me.\u201d
\nAfghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan also played a hand in giving a perfect send off to Hyderabad teammate Warner after returning figures of 3-21 and restrict Punjab to 167-8.
\nIndian batsman Lokesh Rahul top-scored with 79 off 56 deliveries but stood alone among the batting ruins of a side that will now find it difficult to make the play-offs.
\nFor Hyderabad it was the opening pair of Warner and England batsman Jonny Bairstow, who also left home for World Cup preparations last week, that formed the bulk of their success so far.
\nThe Aussie-English duo gave the team many blazing starts including IPL\u2019s best ever opening stand of 185 last month and captain Kane Williamson praised their efforts.
\n\u201cThey have been world-class throughout this whole campaign for us and put us in really strong positions,\u201d said Williamson, who will lead New Zealand in the World Cup starting on May 30.
\n\u201cThere is still lot of work to do. It has to be a collective effort. Very hard to fill someone\u2019s boot directly, [but] the team will have to pick up some slack and perform our roles like any other day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IPL 2019 News Desk Hyderabad Australia\u2019s David Warner Monday hit a scintillating 81 to seal his comeback from scandal in his last Indian Premier League game before heading to the Cricket World Cup. Warner\u2019s knock off 56 balls powered Hyderabad to a 45-run win over Kings XI Punjab after posting a mammoth 212-6 and improve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n