Sunrisers Hyderabad 146 for 5 (Warner 59, Dhawan 45) beat Kings XI Punjab 143 for 6 (Marsh 40, Axar 36*, Mustafizur 2-9) by five wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Mustafizur Rahman produced the most economical figures of the season to restrict Kings XI to 143 © BCCI
Mustafizur Rahman and David Warner produced clinical performances to pave the way for Sunrisers Hyderabad’s thumping five-wicket win against Kings XI Punjab in Hyderabad. Mustafizur executed his offcutters and yorkers again to return figures of 2 for 9 – the most economical spell of the season – as Kings XI were restricted to 143. Warner then blasted his third consecutive fifty, off just 23 balls, to effectively finish the game. Sunrisers’ third win of the season pushed them to third spot on the points table, while Kings XI were left languishing at the bottom with just one win in five games.
The tone for Kings XI was set by an outswinger from Bhuvneshwar Kumar that took M Vijay’s outside edge. Manan Vohra, then, stabilised the innings with a flurry of boundaries, including an exquisitely-timed lofted drive over cover for six. Just when it looked like the batsmen were wrestling back the momentum, Vohra pushed one to cover and set off for a non-existent single. Dhawan hit the stumps and Vohra made his crease at the batsman’s end, but his bat bounced up after a full-length dive.
Moises Henriques dented Kings XI with a double-strike, removing David Miller and Glenn Maxwell in the space of five balls, the third time they have been dismissed in the same over this season. Marsh looked set for his second successive fifty before he was undone by an offcutter from Mustafizur.
However, Nikhil Naik, on IPL debut, and Axar Patel gave Kings XI a chance with a 50-run sixth-wicket stand. Axar was particularly dominant in the arc between long-on and deep midwicket – all his three sixes were hit in that area. Mustafizur, though, ensured Kings XI did not get much more with another frugal spell. Fifty-four runs were scored off the last seven overs, and Mustafizur conceded just nine off three overs in that period. He brought out all his variations – offcutters, yorkers and slower bouncers – to befuddle the batsmen.
In the chase, Warner and Dhawan resumed from where they left off against Gujarat Lions. Dhawan pierced the cover region with two crisp drives for four in the first two overs, before Warner took over.
Warner laid into Sandeep Sharma’s second over – the third of the innings – with two lofted drives over long-off. He hit six more boundaries in the remainder of the Powerplay as Sunrisers plundered 65.
In the 10th over, Warner holed out to long-on for a 31-ball 59, an innings that featured seven fours and three sixes. Aditya Tare, promoted to No. 3, was run-out of his first ball and Kings XI believed again.
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Nikhil Kalro is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo