Riding on a superb bowling performance followed by skipper David Warner's quick-fire 59, Sunrisers Hyderabad outclassed a spiritless Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in an Indian Premier league (IPl) match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Saturday.
Warner continued his sublime form in the tournament as he struck seven boundaries and three sixes in his 31-ball innings to help team chase down Punjab's meagre total of 143/6 by posting 146/5 with 13 balls to spare. Warner was well supported by Shikhar Dhawan (45).
Mustafizur Rahman (2-9) and Moises Henriques (2-33) were the pick of the bowlers for Hyderabad.
Chasing a target of 144, the hosts got off to a flying start scoring 65 for no loss in the powerplay. leading the way was skipper Warner who smashed the Punjab bowlers to all parts off the park to being up his half-century in just 23 balls.
The Australian kept his good form in the tournament going as he returned back to the top of the leading run scorer list with 294 runs from five games.
But the 90-run partnership for the first wicket came to an end in the 10th over when Warner trying to up the scoring rate was caught by David Miller at long-on off the bowling off Sandeep Sharma.
Hyderabad received a double blow when incoming batsman Aditya Tare (0) trying to sneak an impossible single off his first ball finally ran himself to have his team at 90/2 in the tenth over. Next up, Eion Morgan (25) stayed calm to help team close in on the target after Dhawan was dismissed in 14th over.
Brief Scores
KXIP: 143/6 (Shaun Marsh 40; Muztafizur Rahman 2-9) lost to SRH:146/5 (David Warner 59; Sharma 1-30) by 5 wickets.