Mohali, April 28 (IANS) Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Kings XI Punjab by 20 runs in an Indian Premier League match at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here on Monday.
Set 151 for victory, Kings XI could only manage 130 for nine.
The win propelled Sunrisers to the fifth spot in the standings with six points from seven matches while Kings XI were placed at the bottom with four points after seven games.
Manan Vohra (5) and Austrlian Shaun Marsh (1) exited early in the chase of 151. Both of them were dismissed by dragging the ball onto the stumps while trying to force the pace.
The task was on skipper George Bailey (22) to rebuild the innings. But he too perished early in trying to go over the top, only managing to give a simple catch to mid-off.
It left Kings XI struggling at 45 for three. Their troubles were compounded when India Test opener Murali Vijay (12) was involved in a mix-up to be run out for 12 runs, leaving the team reeling at 53 for four in 8.2 overs.
Kings XI were in desperate need of a partnership to steady their sinking ship. But instead they were dealt a huge blow when South African dasher David Miller (15) perished when trying to blast one out of the ground to leave his team doomed at 72 for five.
Spinner Karn Sharma took the important wicket.
Just when they looked down and out, two dropped catches in as many overs brought them back into the game.
Wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha (42) and Axar Patel (17) capitalised on it to put on a 44-run sixth-wicket partnership to raise Kings XI’s hopes of an improbable win.
But untimely dismissals of Patel and then Saha in the 18th over extinguished their chances.
Earlier, a disciplined bowling effort helped Kings XI restrict Sunrisers to 150 for six.
Australian opener David Warner was the star of their innings, hitting a rapid 58 off 41 balls, but he was not backed up by his teammates as Sunrisers could only manage 150.
Sent into bat, they lost Shikhar Dhawan (1) early.
Warner then took over the task of scoring briskly but after his departure in the 10th over, the scoring rate dropped.
All the later batsmen struggled to up the ante some late lusty blows from Asish Reddy helped Sunrisers to reach 150 to give them a fighting chance.