David Warner played another blazing knock smashing 31-ball 59 runs to power Sunrisers Hyderabad to a convincing 5-wicket victory against struggling Kings XI Punjab at the Hyderabad Stadium on Saturday.
Chasing a modest 144-run target, the Sunrisers' skipper attacked from the start scoring seven boundaries and three sixes in his match-winning knock to hand Hyderabad it's third win in a row.
Shikhar Dhawan played a supporting role scoring a patient 45 runs off 44 balls. Eoin Morgan also chipped in with 20-ball 25 as the Sunrisers chased the target with 13 balls remaining.
For Kings XI Punjab, it was their fourth defeat in five matches.
Earlier, the Sunrisers dished out another superlative bowling effort to restrict Kings XI to 143 for six.
Electing to bowl first after winning the toss, the SRH bowlers, including the promising Mustafizur Rahman, Moises Henriques and others picked up wickets at regular intervals and also did not allow Punjab to score big runs.
Moises Henriques scalped two wickets, while Bangladesh pacer Rahman deserves a special mention as he claimed two wickets, including a wicket in a maiden over, giving away just nine runs off his four overs.
Shaun Marsh (40 off 34 balls) was the top-scorer for Punjab with three boundaries and two huge sixes, while all-rounder Axar Patel's unbeaten 36 off 17 balls laced with three sixes and a four helped them put a decent score on board.
Manan Vohra, who has been consistent for KXIP this season, contributed 25 runs that had a six and three fours.
As the side struggled following the exit of Captain David Miller and Glen Maxwell, young Nikhil Nayak (22) gave good company to Patel, sharing 50 runs, to help the side reach 143.
The Punjab side suffered an early setback with its opener Murali Vijay returning to the pavilion in the third over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Vijay paid the price for his poor shot as wicket keeper Naman Ojha took a simple catch.
Other opener Vohra was run out in the sixth over bowled by Mustafizur Rahman following some brilliant fielding by Shikhar Dhawan, whose direct throw found him short of crease.
The KXIP suffered another major setback in the 10th over when Henriques dismissed struggling duo of skipper Miller (9) and Glen Maxwell (1) in the same over.
Marsh, who appeared set for a big innings, was then trapped infront of wicket by Rahman in the 14th over.
But the duo of Nayak and Patel played their useful role to take the innings forward.
Patel’s quickfire cameo of 36 off 17 balls was the prime reason for Kings XI to reach a respectable total of 143 runs.
