Mustafizur, Warner star in Sunrisers Win

Hyderabad: Sipper David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan put on an another fine opening stand of 90 runs to power Sunrisers Hyderabad to a five-wicket victory, their third on the trot, over Kings XI Punjab at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.

Chasing a modest 144-run target, Hyderabad cantered home with 13 balls to spare.

Warner and Dhawan started the chase in the most belligerent fashion as they raced to 65/0 in six overs of Powerplay in comparison to their opposition's 35/2. Dhawan and Warner hit a boundary each in the first two overs but then Warner broke loose as he targetted Kyle Abbott in the third, smacking him for two big sixes and a four, to garner 18 runs from it.

Warner scored a blistering half-century off 23 balls studded with six fours and three sixes. Warner departed soon after his fifty and Hyderabad lost their first wicket on 90.

Dhawan, who gave a good company to Warner, played an uncharacteristic knock of 45 which came in 44 balls with the help of four boundaries. Hyderabad stuttered in their chase post Warner's dismissal as they lost Deepak Hooda and Eoin Morgan in quick time.

Earlier, Fine bowling by pace duo of Mustafizur and Henriques helped Hyderabad restrict Punjab to 143/6.

Man of the match, Mustafizur Rahman (2/9) and Moises Henriques (2/33) were the pick of the bowlers for Hyderabad. Axar Patel played a breezy unbeaten knock of 36 that came in 17 balls with the help of three sixes and one four to take Punjab's score to a fighting total, after being put into bat, which finally turned out insufficient in the end.

Paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar set the ball rolling for Hyderabad as he landed a perfect seam in the very first ball of the innings as Punjab opener Murali Vijay negotiated it well for a single while his opening partner Manan Vohra edged one, which swung away from him, in the next but it fell short of Shikhar Dhawan at first slip.

Vohra dispatched Barinder for a six over covers in the tidy second over that otherwise had five dot balls. Bhuvneshwar dismissed Vijay (2) with the first ball of the third over to give Hyderabad early breakthrough. Vohra, who scored 23-ball 25, hit two cracking boundaries before being run out in the next.

Now the onus was on out-of-form skipper David Miller and Shaun Marsh to mend the dwindling Punjab innings. But Moises Henriques struck twice in the 10th over to break Punjab's back. He first got rid of Miller in the second ball followed by the dismissal of Glenn Maxwell in the last ball of the over.

Marsh, who scored 34-ball 40 which included two sixes and three fours, added 24 runs with Nikhil Naik for the fifth wicket.

Axar produced some late burst by hitting Bhuvneshwar for a six and a four, snatching 15 runs in the penultimate over. Mustafizur again came to the fore to break crucial Patel-Naik 50-run partnership for the sixth wicket in the final over. Naik played a fine cameo of 22 that came in 28 balls.

Brief scores:
Kings XI Punjab - 143/6 (Marsh 40, Patel 36, Mustafizur 2-9, Henriques 2-33)
Sunrisers Hyderabad - 146/5 (Warner 59, Dhawan 45)
Result - Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 5 wickets
MOM - Mustafizur Rahman (Sunrisers Hyderabad)