Hyderabad, Apr 17
A lion-hearted 5/19 effort by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and a fantastic unbeaten 70 by skipper David Warner were the foundations on which defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a thrilling five-run win over the equally gritty Kings XI Punjab in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here tonight.
Although, the 160 runs target was rather modest, the visitors made their intentions clear despite Kumar’s dream spell that saw him grab five wickets conceding a mere 19 runs in his four overs.
Punjab was shot out for 154 giving Hyderabad its first win in three matches.
Earlier, it appeared like the defending champions are back to depend heavily on Warner to lead from the front. He responded in style even as wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end.
It was thanks to his magnificent unbeaten knock that the host could manage to post a respectable 159 for six wickets.
The match also marked the IPL debut for Afghanistan all-rounder Mohammad Nabi.
The entire batting revolved around Warner, who clobbered seven hits to the fence and two over the ropes in his 540ball essay. Had it not been for a timely 60-run fourth wicket partnership with Naman Ojha , the score could have pathetic. The visiting team was given a flying start by Mohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma and Sandeep Sharma, who managed to curtail the run-flow to supreme levels from the time Shikar Dhawan fell when the score was 25. Moises Henriques (9), Yuvraj Singh (0) to Saha added to the Sunrisers misery. It was only when Warner and Ojha came together that the scoreboard started ticking in the required direction for the host. Following Ojha’s exit, it was the same old story for Hyderabad, which eventually managed to 159 for six wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.(UNI)
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