IPL 2016: Warner, Dhawan guide SRH to third win on the trot
David Warner’s fourth half-century of the season and Shikhar Dhawan’s 44-ball 45 helped Sunrisers Hyderabad defeat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets to register their third victory in a row. Earlier, on the back of Mustafizur Rahman’s magic spell, SRH had restricted Kings XI to 143/6 at Hyderabad.
Brief Scores: KXIP 143/6 in 20 overs (Marsh 40(34),
Similar to the last two games for Sunrisers Hyderabad, skipper David Warner was once again the main man for the home side as they chased Kings XI Punjab’s total of 143. The Aussie, who scored unbeaten knocks of 74 and 90 in the last two matches, started from where he left off in the previous match and went after the Kings XI bowlers. Sandeep Sharma suffered the wrath of the left-hander first up as Warner sent the right-arm pacer rows back into the stands two times in the third over. Kyle Abbott also received similar treatment as the SRH skipper scored 17 runs
David Miller brought on Glenn Maxwell in an attempt to stem the run flow, but spin or pace made no difference to Warner as he sent Maxwell to the stands for a six. The home side scored 65 runs in the powerplay with Warner scoring the majority of the runs and Shikhar Dhawan playing second-fiddle. The Aussie brought up his fourth fifty of the tournament off just 23 balls in the next over, to leave the team needing just 5.30 runs per over in the next 13 overs.
Warner was cruising in the 200s in terms of strike rate, while Dhawan, just like the last game, maintained a strike rate near 100 giving Warner the strike to continue the carnage. However, the entertainment for the home crowd finally ended in the 10th over after the left-hander mishit a shot off Sandeep Sharma to find Miller at long-on. After Warner’s knock of 59 off 31 balls, Aditya Tare arrived at the crease and departed even before the scorers could change the name
Shikhar Dhawan and Eoin Morgan took the team forward with less than a run-a-ball needed. Although Dhawan fell 29 runs away from a victory for a well made 45 off 44 balls, Morgan and Deepak Hooda took the team closer to a victory. However, two wickets in two balls saw Morgan and Hooda leaving for the pavilion with just five more runs needed. Moises Henriques scored the rest of the runs and took the team to the victory with 13 balls to spare. Â
Earlier, after winning just one of their first four matches, Kings XI Punjab travelled to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the hope of registering their second win. Nikhil Naik and Rishi Dhawan came into the team for the away side in place of Pardeep Sahu and Wriddhiman Saha. On the other hand, Sunrisers Hyderabad kept faith with the side that won the match against Gujarat Lions. SRH skipper David Warner won the toss and just like the last two matches, opted to field first after registering two back-to-back wins by chasing.
Kings XI got off to a steady start scoring 14 runs in the first two overs, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who took four wickets in the last match, delivered the first blow in the third over by removing Murali Vijay for 2. The right-hander went after a wide delivery outside off-stump and edged it to Naman Ojha behind the stumps to return to the pavilion. With the run rate creeping near the five-run mark, Manan Vohra took matters into his own hands and went after Barinder
With the team in a spot of bother at 35/2 at the end of the powerplay, skipper David Miller and Shaun Marsh tried to hit their way out of trouble. Although they were successful initially against Moises Henriques and Deepak Hooda, with the bowlers conceding 12 runs each in the eighth and ninth over, Miller’s attempt to do the same against Henriques in the 10th over cost him his wicket. Glenn Maxwell came and went without troubling the scorers much as Kings XI looked down the barrel at the half-way mark with 65/4 on the board.
Marsh was fighting a lone battle in the middle and he also returned to the dressing room in the 14th over after scoring 40 off 34 balls. Mustafizur, who bowled a maiden in his first over, conceded just one run in his second, also taking Marsh’s wicket by trapping him in front of the stumps. Axar Patel provided some lusty blows in the final overs to give some respectability to the score.