Sunrisers Hyderabad Skipper David Warner Says He Would 'Pay to Watch' AB de Villiers Bat

Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner is certainly leading his side from the front. On Monday, Warner continued with his impressive form when he smashed 81 off only 52 balls to help Hyderabad beat Kings XI Punjab by five runs and stay in contention for a place in the Indian Premier League play-offs. (IPL 2015 Complete Coverage | Points Table | Stats)

Hyderabad's next match is against Royal Challengers Bangalore, who on Sunday rode AB de Villiers' majestic 133 not out off 59 balls to beat Mumbai Indians by 39 runs. That should be an interesting contest between Warner, who says de Villiers is a class apart.

"I am not in the same category as AB de Villiers. He is a guy that comes out and gets himself in and then all of a sudden he just switches from slow motion to the extreme rocket or something like that. Whatever he is eating, we want some of that," Warner told iplt20.com.

"That's the way he (AB) plays; it is fearless cricket. The thing is, he is able to do that because his top two (in RCB) are scoring the runs. It allows your middle order to play in when your top three are scoring runs," Warner said. (Grounded AB de Villiers determined to help RCB fly)

The Hyderabad opener will face RCB's Mitchell Starc when the two sides collide on Friday and the Aussie dasher admitted he would pay to watch his fellow Australian play.

"I would pay to watch Mitchell Starc bowl, AB de Villiers bat, and I would say David Miller if he is batting while chasing. They are three guys I would definitely pay to watch," he said.

Warner has become the first player to score over 500 runs this season in the IPL -- 504 runs -- to go past Ajinkya Rahane's 461 for Rajasthan Royals. Four captains have amassed 500 runs or more -- Sachin Tendulkar (twice) -- 618 in 2010 and 553 in 2011, Gautam Gambhir -- 590 in 2012, Virat Kohli -- 634 in 2013 and Warner -- 504 in 2015. (IPL the best twenty20 tournament in the world: Lendl Simmons)

Other statistical highlights of Monday's IPL tie between SRH and King's XI Punjab:

- Warner and Shikhar Dhawan have shared five fifty-plus partnerships for the first wicket - the most by an opening pair in this IPL. No other opening pair has recorded more than three in IPL 2015.

- Warner's innings was studded with six fours and five sixes that helped him notch up his 22nd IPL fifty, his 12th for Hyderabad. (SRH Need to Keep Momentum Going in IPL 2015: Muralitharan)

- Warner has posted six fifty-plus innings in this IPL, extending his record. The second place is shared by Lendl Simmons and Rahane - four fifties each. Warner's 12th fifty for Hyderabad is his 24th innings of fifty-plus (2 centuries + 22 fifties) in the IPL.

- Warner has managed 70% of runs through boundaries - 59 fours and 20 sixes - 356 runs out of 504.

- Run-aggregate of 1032 achieved by Warner (ave.44.86) in 26 matches and Shikhar Dhawan (ave.32.25) in 36 matches, sharing a record for the highest run-aggregate for Sunrisers in the IPL.

(With inputs from Rajesh Kumar)