and David Warner lapped it up in emphatic fashion with his fourth fifty in five matches, as the Sunrisers Hyderabad piled misery on Kings XI Punjab to record a five-wicket win at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday (April 23).
Mustafizur Rahman (2 for 9) led Sunrisers' fine show with the ball, ably supported by Moises Henriques and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who struck timely blows in what was yet another batting collapse for the Kings XI.
Shaun Marsh mustered a brief fight and Axar Patel provided hope with a late cameo, but both those efforts were nullified in style by Warner, whose rich vein of form helped him knock the orange cap off Virat Kohli's head.After Warner won his fifth successive toss, there was a familiar machine-like efficiency to Sunrisers' bowling performance in the batting powerplay. Bhuvneshwar, who bagged four in Sunrisers' previous outing, nearly sent Manan Vohra packing off the second ball of the innings, when an outside edge fell just short of Shikhar Dhawan in the slips.
As the Meerut-born pacer started with pin-point accuracy, the Kings XI openers had to target the lesser-experienced Barinder Sran. Vohra hit a glorious six over extra cover off Sran to get the innings up and away. Bhuvneshwar, however, placed the first hurdle in Kings XI's quest for a good start, removing Murali Vijay cheaply in the third over. Vohra, however, continued to punish Sran, who bowled too short and paid the penalty by conceding two successive boundaries in his second over. Vohra seemed set to anchor the Kings XI innings, until Mustafizur Rahman arrived in the final over of the powerplay.
The 20-year-old was up against a batsman looking to throw caution to the winds, but a couple of full deliveries, a well-disguised off-cutter and an inch-perfect yorker later, the pressure was on the young batsman. After playing out four exceptional dot deliveries, Vohra tried to pinch a quick single and was duly sent back by Shaun Marsh, but didn't make his ground on time, falling for a 23-ball 25.
As the field spread out, Warner turned to the dibbly-dobbly pace of Moises Henriques and stuck to his plan of bowling Mustafizur for just one over up front, bringing Deepak Hooda, the off-spinner, back into the attack. Having collected just 35 off the first six overs, Kings XI were in dire need of runs and a partnership to take them forward against a miserly bowling attack. Both Miller and Marsh took on Henriques, dispatching his short deliveries to the fence with ease.
There was further show of intent, when Marsh attacked Hooda as Kings XI collected 24 off two overs. Their sudden flourish, however, was short-lived. Right after the strategic break, Henriques, switched to round the stumps, and reaped rich dividends to dismiss Miller and Glenn Maxwell in the space of five deliveries to reduce Kings XI to 65 for 4 at the halfway stage.
Nikhil Naik, playing in place of Wriddhiman Saha, joined Marsh for mission revival, only for Mustafizur to return for his second spell and derail it, albeit via a dodgy decision. The Bangladesh pacer unfurled an off-cutter, leading Marsh to shuffle across in the crease and get struck on the flap of his front pad. The umpire reckoned that would've crashed onto the stumps, only for the replays to suggest otherwise.
Axar Patel and Naik dug Kings XI out of the trenches of 89 for 5. The former went for broke, aiming to send as many deliveries as possible into the stands. He succeeded to a good extent, as a 50-run stand off 35 deliveries for the sixth wicket steered his side out of the early rut. Axar finished on 36 off 17, but just six came off the final over - by Mustafizur - as Kings XI limped to 143 for 6 on 20 overs.
Kyle Abbott induced an inside edge off Shikhar Dhawan early but Warner throwing Sandeep Sharma off guard with two towering sixes - over extra cover and long on - and a boundary in the third over ensured there were no early hiccups for Sunrisers in a modest yet tricky chase. Dhawan too was eventually made comfortable by Abbott's repeated attempts to dig the ball short, which the Sunrisers opener pulled away without any fuss.
An influx of easy boundaries prompted Miller to turn to spin early as Maxwell was introduced in the fifth over. Warner rendered that move ineffective, when he backed away and plundered a short delivery for a six over long off and then ferociously cut another short ball, slightly wide this time, in front of square. There was more drama to unfold in the first over of spin as Warner went hell for leather but missed two big heaves, the first leading to a stumping appeal, turned down by the third umpire, and the second, a vociferous shout for caught behind, also turned down, much to the dismay of Maxwell.
Warner's relentless approach wasn't all brawn as he sighted Mohit Sharma's slower one early and added a bit of finesse to score his fifth boundary of the innings, square of the off side as Sunrisers reached 65 for no loss in six overs, the highest score in batting powerplay in IPL 2016. The stadium was sparse, fans merely occupied the lower stands all around, but they waved their orange flags in unison as Warner brought up his 23-ball half-century in the seventh over.
After the early frenzy, a brief lull ensued, one that consumed Warner. As the boundaries were starting to dry up, the Sunrisers skipper took the aerial route, hitting the ball straight to his opposite number at long on. Sunrisers committed harakiri, as Aditya Tare was run out first ball. At 90 for 2 in 10 overs, Sunrisers were still in a comfortable position but two swift breakthroughs gave their opposition hope.
With the asking rate under six-an-over, Dhawan and Eoin Morgan executed some low-risk batting that kept Kings XI at an arm's length from a sensational turnaround. Even as Rishi Dhawan dismissed his namesake in the 14th over, followed by the wickets of Eoin Morgan and Deepak Hooda in the 17th, the Sunrisers completed a comfortable win, with 13 balls to spare.
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