Despite a jaw-dropping batting effort from Chris Gayle and another half-century from Virat Kohli that helped him finish the season with a tally of 973 runs, Sunrisers Hyderabad expertly held their nerves to eke out an eight-run victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore in front of their home fans at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore and to win their maiden Indian Premier League title.

David Warner’s attack-minded move to put the runs on the board in a big encounter paid off handsomely as Sunrisers posted a mammoth 208 for 7. Warner laid a strong foundation with his ninth half-century of the season, before Yuvraj Singh held the middle-order together with a vital contribution.

Gayle took to the occasion of chasing a total in excess of 200 by reverting to his devastating best in the powerplay overs. Just as Gayle looked set to score his sixth IPL century, he miscued a heave and departed for a 38-ball 76, an innings laced with four fours and eight sixes. There seemed to be a seamless transition of run-scoring from Gayle to Kohli as the Royal Challengers skipper kept his opponents on their toes. He went on to bring up 11th fifty-plus score this IPL.

In the end, a team that revels in chasing down any total with the swashbucklers in its batting line-up, was unable to match up to the towering target of 209 — an intimidating edifice — set up by the Sunrisers, courtesy an outrageously in-form David Warner, a flourishing Yuvraj Singh and a cutting cameo that sprouted 52 unassailable runs in the final 3 overs.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 208/7 in 20 overs (David Warner 69, Ben Cutting 39*; Chris Jordan 3-45) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 200/7 in 20 overs (Chris Gayle 76, Virat Kohli 54; Ben Cutting 2-35) by eight runs