Having lost both the games to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the last IPL, Kings XI, already enjoying a good run, thumped Sunrisers finally in their third meeting overall, taking them to the top of the Points Table with 3 straight wins. Riding on the mix of luck + quality hits by century-shy destructive Maxwell for the third consecutive match, they became the first team in IPL to post three consecutive 190+ scores. Maxwell became the second player in IPL after Gayle (2011) to receive three consecutive Player of the Match awards. Kings XI will be remembering Shaun Marsh of 2008 edition, while Sunrisers are seeing a repeat of their official captain being in question.
Previous Head-to-Head
SH won by 5 wickets, MOM: Hanuma Vihari
Kings XI Punjab 123/9 (20/20 ov); Sunrisers Hyderabad 127/5 (18.5/20 ov)
SH won by 30 runs, MOM: Parthiv Patel at Chandigarh
Sunrisers Hyderabad 150/7 (20/20 ov); Kings XI Punjab 120/9 (20/20 ov)
Maxwell Takes Kings XI to 193/6
Having been sent to bat first, Kings XI started slow. In the first two overs openers Sehwag and Pujara could score only 3 runs. But then both picked up speed and Kings XI reached 43 runs without wicket in first 6 overs. Sehwag showed glimpse of his form scoring 22-ball 30 runs with 3 6s and 2 4s. Pujara was also better with 32-ball 35 runs hitting 4 4s that included three boundaries from the second over of Steyn. When Pujara went, the score read 86/2 in 11 overs. As David Miller joined Maxwell, the party started for spectators. The strong bowling of Sunrisers was tore apart. Sixes flew all over and they added 68 runs in 27 balls. David Miller could score only run-a-ball 10 runs.
Maxwell got a life when he was in 20s and Warner could not catch a dolly. He again went for 95 runs again scoring on 43 balls, now with 9 6s and 5 4s. Bailey scored 8-ball 10 runs. In the last 5 overs they could score only 54 runs.
Mishra got 2 wickets but was the most expensive, when he was supposed to be the key bowler for the match. He had 56/2 in his 4 overs. Comeback-man Irfan Pathan gave 28 runs in 2 overs, while Sammy had 22/1 in 2 overs. Karn Sharma was impressive but with missed chances his figure was 37/0 in 4 overs.
Amidst all the massacre Steyn survived with 26/0 in 4 overs. B Kumar was the most impressive with 19/3 in 4 overs.
Sunrisers bowled out for 121
Having Finch and Warner in the squad is not showing up in the scores of Sunrisers. They again failed to cross 130 runs, which was their standard score in the last IPL when they reached the semifinal. Probably Dhawan needs to make way for Warner as opener. But, after 2nd consecutive loss and disastrous decisions while batting and fielding, probably Dhawan needs to hand over captainship to someone else and concentrate on batting, if Sunrisers need to make impact.
After failing to fire against Rajasthan Royals, they failed again today. Dhawan returned in the second over scoring only 1 run. Finch took 15-balls to score 19 runs and was the first victim of impressive Balaji, who in his fifth over finished whatever hope Sunrisers had as after 2 balls he has Warner (8-runs 12 balls) also caught by Maxwell. After that it was just a matter of losing by least runs. Wicketkeeper Rahul was the highest scorer with run-a-ball 277 runs. Venugopal (11), Sammy (15), Karn Sharma (10), Steyn (10) got into double digits. Irfan Pathan (5) failed with bat too.
Balaji produced the most economical spell of current IPL with 4/13 in his 4 overs. Akshar Patel impressed again with 2/20 in 4 overs. Sandeep Sharma (1/26) and Johnson (2/26) had same economy. Rishi Dhawan, who replaced Rahul Sharma had 1/23 in 2.2 overs. Maxwell gave 10 runs in one over.
Kings XI won by 72 runs
For the second consecutive day IPL saw similar type of end. Team batting first scored high, and then easily bowled out the opponents winning by huge margin. Kings XI won by 72 runs. While Maxwell was the Player of the Match for the third consecutive match, success of their bowlers must will give them more reasons to feel confident for the season.
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