Sunrisers beat hosts Punjab by 26 runs

Mohali: Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Kings XI Punjab by 26 runs in an Indian Premier League match at the I.S. Bindra Stadium here on Friday.
Chasing 208, Punjab were restricted to 181/9 with Shaun Marsh (84), Eoin Morgan (26) and Martin Guptill (23) the only big contributors.
For Hyderabad, Siddharth Kaul and Ashish Nehra scalped three wickets each while pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar took two wickets for 27 runs.
Punjab started off on a positive note but after adding 26 runs for the first wicket, opener Guptill was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he tried to loft the knuckle ball but was caught by Moises Henriques. Guptill’s 11-ball knock was laced with four boundaries and one six.
After one over, the in-form Manan Vohra (3) was sent packing by experienced pacer Nehra to make Punjab reel at 37/2 in four overs.
Middle-order batsmen Marsh and Morgan forged a 73-run partnership to give some hope to the hosts.
With 70 runs required from 30 balls, Wriddhiman Saha (2) came in to the middle but was clean-bowled by Kaul in the 15th over.
Things got worse when Marsh was sent back to the pavilion in the next over with the score on 138/5.
Punjab’s lower-middle order also failed to deliver with Axar Patel (16), Anureet Singh (15), Mohit Sharma (2), Ishant Sharma (5 not out) failed to achieve the required run-rate.
Earlier, put in to bat, openers David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan helped Sunrisers Hyderabad post a challenging 207/3.
Right from the start, Dhawan (77) and Warner (51) thrashed Punjab’s bowlers all around the park, getting past the 100 run mark in just 10 overs.
Both openers forged a 107-run partnership with the run-rate of 10.70 before Warner was sent packing by Punjab’s skipper Maxwell.
After adding another 40 runs with Kane Williamson (54 not out), Dhawan was dismissed on a Mohit Sharma delivery.
Henriques and Williamson completed the proceedings in style as they added 31 runs in the last two overs. (IANS)