IPL PHOTOS: Kings XI Punjab ease past Sunrisers Hyderabad

Kings XI Punjab eased past Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in an Indian Premier League cricket match in Sharjah on Tuesday.

Invited to bat, Punjab scored a huge 193 for six and then restricted Hyderabad to just 121 (19.2 overs).

It was the Punjab team's third straight win of the tournament.

- Scorecard

Earlier, Hyderabad captain Shikhar Dhawan won the toss and opted to field.

Irfan Pathan replaced Ishant Sharma in the Hyderabad playing eleven while Murali Karthik and Parvinder Awana made way for Rishi Dhawan and Sandeep Sharma in the Punjab line-up. 

Teams: 

Kings XI Punjab: George Bailey (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Cheteshwar Pujara, Glenn Maxwell, David Miller, Wriddhiman Saha, Mitchell Johnson, Akshar Patel, Laxmipathy Balaji, Rishi Dhawan, Sandeep Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Aaron Finch, David Warner, Lokesh Rahul, Darren Sammy, Venugopal Rao, Irfan Pathan, Karn Sharma, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra, Bhuvneshwar Kumar

Put into bat, Virender Sehwag (30) and Cheteshwar Pujara (35) gave Punjab a good start, amassing their best opening partnership of 51 runs off 40 balls. 

Sehwag blasted three sixes and two fours in his 22-ball 30 before holing out to Sammy at long on. 

It was Sehwag's best performance in this edition thus far.

Pujara too departed in the 11th over when his attempt to clear the midwicket boundary ended with a good catch by Y Venugopal Rao.

The Saurashtra batsman scored 35 off 32 balls with the help of six boundaries.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the Hyderabad bowlers with figures of three for 19.

Bhuvneshwar got rid off David Miller (10), caught by David Warner at long off, in his second spell before dismissing George Bailey (10) and Mitchell Johnson (4) in the last over.

Glenn Maxwell continued his rampaging run by smashing yet another blistering half-century to power Kings XI Punjab to an imposing 193 for six.

Maxwell proved that fortune favors the brave as he made good use of the two lives that he got during in his innings by cracking nine sixes and five fours in his 43-ball 95-run innings. 

Maxwell, who was dropped by David Warner off Karn Sharma in the 10th over before Darren Sammy had him caught on a no-ball in the 15th over, shared 68 runs off 27 balls with Miller for the third wicket. He also added 25 runs off 15 balls with George Bailey. 

After scoring 95 and 89 in his last two innings, Maxwell once again produced a devastating innings but fell short of a century by five runs when he was dismissed by Amit Mishra in the 18th over. 

Mitchell Johnson struck in his first over with the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan (1), who is caught behind for one.

Lakshmipathy Balaji came into the attack in the fifth over and struck with his third ball, crashing through Aaron Finch's (19) defense. Two balls later, David Warner (8) was beaten by the extra bounce and offered a simple catch to Glenn Maxwell at point.

Two wickets and two runs from Balaji's opening over left Hyderabad in tatters on 33 for three in five overs.

Sandeep Sharma made matters worse for Hyderabad soon after, shattering Venugopal Rao's (11) stumps. There was no revival thereafter. 

Balaji finished with figures of four for 13, to take possession of the purple cap.