Opener David Warner top-scored with a 41-ball 58 as Sunrisers Hyderabad managed a modest 150 for six in the IPL-8 match against Kings XI Punjab on Monday. At the time of going to the press, KXIP were 116/5 at the end of 17 overs with Axar Patel (17*) and Wriddhiman Saha (38*0 at the crease.
A Ashish Reddy smashed 22 off eight balls towards the end with the help of two last-over sixes, helping Sunrisers reach the 150-mark. Sent into bat, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were off to a poor start with Shikhar Dhawan falling to pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson with just 10 runs on the board after Sandeep Sharma bowled a maiden opening over at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium.
Kings XI Punjab skipper George Bailey opted to bowl first as the pitch had a good amount of grass on it, and his bowlers responded by producing a disciplined show. KXIP, who dropped veteran Virender Sehwag after a run of poor scores in their first home game of the season, ensured that the Sunrisers batsmen didn’t get easy runs in this crucial encounter between the two bottom-placed teams. Glenn Maxwell, too, missed out yet again on finding a place in the playing XI.
Young left-arm spinner Axar Patel was the best bowler for KXIP, returning impressive figures of 2/25, while Johnson picked up two wickets for 39 runs. Apart from Warner, Moises Henriques (30) and Naman Ojha (28) were the other contributors for the visiting side, which struggled to cut loose. Warner found the fence 10 times and cleared it once during his stay in the middle.
Though Warner added 46 runs for the second wicket with hanum Vihari and Henriques had a 45-run fourth-wicket stand with, they were not big enough to trouble the home team that had the crowd behind them. Part-time bowler Murali Vijay bowled a tidy three-over spell, conceding just 16 runs, and that made things worse for Sunrisers.