IPL 9, Match 18 Review: Warner, Mustafizur lead Sunrisers to another win

When Kings XI Punjab took on Sunrisers Hyderabad at their den in Hyderabad, they had a lot to play for. For the Kings XI, it was the all-important game as they look very unsettled at the moment. On the other hand, Sunrisers were in search of consistency. Having won their previous encounter handsomely, they had to back it up with another good show.

Having won the toss, the SRH skipper David Warner opted to chase. The reason was quite simple; the teams batting second have had an upper hand in the IPL so far. The decision worked well as KXIP could only post 143/6 in their 20 overs and that too on the back of some late hitting by Axar Patel. The Sunrisers got off to a flying start with Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner looking in ominous touch. The openers set the platform for a comfortable win for the Sunrisers.

Put into bat first, KXIP openers had a disastrous start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar got past the outside edge of Murali Vijay to dismiss him in the third over. Manan Vohra and Shaun Marsh took their time to settle in but in the process got the KXIP on the back foot. Vohra was dismissed on the penultimate delivery of the powerplay for 25 that came off 23 balls.

A lot was expected from the big overseas giants, David Miller, and Glenn Maxwell. But as has been the case this season, both departed in quick succession. While Miller scored 9, Maxwell could manage just 1. Both the wickets were taken by Moises Henriques. Nikhil Naik scored a rather slow knock of 22 off 28 balls. Meanwhile, Marsh rallied along to score 40 off 34 before getting dismissed by Mustafizur.

In walked Axar Patel, who had an ordinary IPL so far, played fearlessly and hit the long ball clean. With 3 sixes and a four, he remained unbeaten on 36 off 17 and his efforts propelled the score to 143/6 by the end of 20 overs.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad openers started from where they had left in the previous game. Warner and Dhawan looked to be playing on a different track altogether. Within 4 overs, they raced to 47/0 and to 65/0 by the end of the powerplay. Warner continued to plunder the bowling attack while Dhawan was happy to play the second fiddle. The duo put on 90 in 54 balls before Warner was dismissed caught by David Miller on 59 that came off 31 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes. Aditya Tare was run out on the very next delivery. In walked Eoin Morgan to join Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan too lost his wicket soon after scoring a steady 45 off 44 balls. Just when they were cruising towards the victory, Morgan was dismissed on 25 with 5 runs still needed to be made.

A bit more delay was caused as Deepak Hooda was also run out on the very next ball. Henriques hit a boundary to seal the game for Sunrisers as they won with 5 wickets and 13 balls to spare.

Brief Scores:

KXIP – 143/6 (Shaun Marsh 40; Axar Patel 36*; M Rahman 2/9)

SRH – 146/5 (David Warner 59; Mohit Sharma 1/20)

Man of the Match: David Warner