IPL 2016: 'David' Warner slays 'paper Goliath' RCB

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 194/5 in 20 overs (David Warner 92(50), Kane Williamson 50(38); Kane Richardson 2/45, Shane Watson 1/33) won against Royal Challengers Bangalore 173/6 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 51(28), AB de Villiers 47(32); Ashish Nehra 1/32, Mustafizur Rahman 1/34)

However, that wicket did not dampen the spirit of Rahul as he went in all guns blazing. The stand-out shot in the first 10 overs of RCB's innings was a majestic pull shot from Rahul, off Barinder Sran, which deposited the ball into the stands over the deep square leg boundary. He was playing with an aggression you normally do not associate with someone who is labelled as a technically correct Test batsman. In fact, despite having AB de Villiers at the other end, it was Rahul who was hogging the limelight.

De Villiers, whose catch was previously dropped by Ashish Nehra in the 6th over, once again got a reprieve in the 11th over this time through Deepak Hooda. As the required rate rose above 12, the South African upped his gear and went after Henriques in the 14th over and hit him for two consecutive sixes.

Nehra and Hooda breathed a collective sigh of relief in the 15th over when Kane Williamson did what they could not – took the catch of de Villiers. His dismissal, three short of another half-century, put Hyderabad firmly in the driver's seat.

Earlier, Virat Kohli won the toss and for the first time, Royal Challengers Bangalore had the opportunity to bowl first. They came into this match on the back of a defeat against the Gujarat Lions, and Kohli announced four changes to their starting lineup. Varun Aaron, Parvez Rasool, Harshal Patel and Sachin Baby replaced Sarfaraz Khan, Stuart Binny, Yuzvendra Chahal and Iqbal Abdulla. Bangalore had strengthened their fast bowling attack in hopes of exploiting the wicket which had been affected by rain.

Hyderabad finally gave a game to Kane Williamson, while BarinderSran and Ashish Reddy also returned to their lineup.

The Australian has been in scintillating form this and was fourth in the scoring chart at the start of this game with 294 runs in 6 innings – staggeringly, he has scored 36.28% of Hyderabad's runs so far in the tournament.

This time, he had a more reliable partner in Kane Williamson at the other end, and the duo produced a crucial partnership of 124 runs in just 73 balls. The warning signs were there early for Bengaluru, when Warner went after Harshal Patel in the sixth over and hit him for 16 runs – including a six over long-on off a free-hit.

It started with his version of a helicopter shot over the deep midwicket fence for a six. Richardson tried a slower bouncer in the next delivery and Warner muscled it along the ground to the same part of the fence. The fourth delivery was a quicker bouncer and this time, Warner just guided it over the third man boundary for another six – he was toying with the bowlers at this point.

Eventually, Shamsi picked up Warner's wicket in the 16th over, not before the Australian had hoisted him for a massive six over long-on, and that led to a couple more wickets in quick succession. Moises Henriques provided the momentum Hyderabad were looking for at the end of the innings with a knock of 31 runs from just 14 balls, as they posted a daunting total of 194 runs.