Hyderabad : Riding on a superb bowling performance followed by skipper David Warner’s quick-fire 59, Sunrisers Hyderabad outclassed a spiritless Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Saturday.
Warner continued his sublime form in the tournament as he struck seven boundaries and three sixes in his 31-ball innings to help team chase down Punjab’s meagre total of 143/6 by posting 146/5 with 13 balls to spare. Warner was well supported by Shikhar Dhawan (45).
Mustafizur Rahman (2-9) and Moises Henriques (2-33) were the pick of the bowlers for Hyderabad.
Chasing a target of 144, the hosts got off to a flying start scoring 65 for no loss in the powerplay. Leading the way was skipper Warner who smashed the Punjab bowlers to all parts off the park to being up his half-century in just 23 balls.
The Australian kept his good form in the tournament going as he returned back to the top of the leading run scorer list with 294 runs from five games.
But the 90-run partnership for the first wicket came to an end in the 10th over when Warner trying to up the scoring rate was caught by David Miller at long-on off the bowling off Sandeep Sharma.
Hyderabad received a double blow when incoming batsman Aditya Tare (0) trying to sneak an impossible single off his first ball finally ran himself to have his team at 90/2 in the tenth over.
Next up, Eion Morgan (25) stayed calm to help team close in on the target after Dhawan was dismissed in 14th over.
Earlier put into bat, Punjab got off to a disappointing start losing opener Murali Vijay (2) in the third over itself to have the visitors in the backfoot.
But his opening partner Manan Vohra (25), who looked good right from the start, sneaking in with ones and twos and striking three fours and one six, ran himself out in the final ball of the powerplay to leave the team at 35/2.
Incoming batsman Marsh used his experience to best effect to hold on to the wicket. But Punjab from there on received two quick blows in one over with Henriques dismissing hard-hitters David Miller (9) followed by Glenn Maxwell (1) in the 10th over to have the visitors in a spot of bother at 65/4.
Marsh was the lone fighter for his side after hitting three boundaries and two sixes until young Bangladeshi sensation Mustafizur got the left-handed batsman leg before wicket to have Punjab in trouble at 89/5 in 14th over.
But Axar Patel (36 not out) and Nikhil Naik (22) played a handy knock in the end to help team cross the 140-run mark.
Mustafizur was exceptional with his variations as he conceded only nine runs in his four overs.
Brief Scores: Kings XI Punjab 143/6 in 20 overs (Shaun Marsh 40; Muztafizur Rahman 2-9, Moises Henriques 2-33) vs Sunrisers Hyderebad 146/5 in 17.5 overs (David Warner 59, Sandeep Sharma 1-30)
The squads:
Kings XI Punjab: David Miller (captain), Kyle Abbott, Murali Vijay, Manan Vohra, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Anureet Singh, Axar Patel, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Pardeep Sahu, Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma, Marcus Stoinis, Swapnil Singh, Armaan Jaffer, Farhaan Behardien, KC Cariappa, Rishi Dhawan, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Nikhil Naik, Shardul Thakur.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner (captain), Ashish Reddy, Ricky Bhui, Bipul Sharma, Trent Boult, Ben Cutting, Shikar Dhawan, Moises Henriques, Deepak Hooda, Siddarth Kaul, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Abhimanyu Midtun, Eoin Morgan, Mustafizur Rahman, Ashish Mehra, Naman Ojha, Vijay Shanker, Karn Sharma, Barinder Sran, T Suman, Aditya Tare, Kane Williamson and Yuvraj Singh.