Warner and Rashid shine in SRH’s 45-run win over Kings XI

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) yesterday defeated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 45 runs to strengthen their chances of qualifying for the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs. For KXIP, KL Rahul was the lone warrior as he scored brilliant 79 off 56 balls his knock went in vain as he didn’t get the support from the other end as the wickets kept falling on regular intervals. Spinner Rashid Khan took three wickets for SRH.Earlier, David Warner notched up his eighth half century of the season to end his IPL campaign this season in style, as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted 212/6 in 20 overs.Warner, who is by far the tournament’s highest scorer, smashed a typically belligerent 81 off 56 balls, his innings laced with seven fours and two sixes.Warner, who will leave for Australia to be part of their World Cup camp, was removed by Kings XI skipper R. Ashwin in the 16th over but the damage was already done by then with Manish Pandey (36; 25b; 3x4; 1x6), Wriddhiman Saha (28; 13b; 3x4; 1x6) and Mohamed Nabi (20; 10b; 2x6) contributing to the total. For the visitors, Ashwin (2/30) was the pick of the bowlers as Mujeeb Ur Rahman, returning to the team, was taken for 66 runs in his four overs, including one in which the Afghanistan spinner leaked 26 runs, the most expensive spell of bowling this IPL.Since Warner was dismissed, Kings XI reined in a bit with a flurry of wickets but still could not stop Sunrisers from crossing the 200-run mark. Sunrisers could manage just 17 runs in the last two overs, losing three wickets. It was a dream start for the orange army as they raced to 53/0 in four overs, and then 77/0 after Powerplay, both scores the fastest this season. Warner and Saha shared a 76-run opening wicket stand before the India Test wicketkeeper under edged a delivery by M Ashwin to Simran Singh behind the stumps.Pandey and Warner continued the carnage, combining for a 82-run stand for the second wicket. Just when it looked like they would post a score well past 200, R. Ashwin snared two wickets in the 16th over, first removing Pandey and then accounting for Warner. While Pandey was taken at short fine leg by Mohammed Shami, Warner was taken at point by Mujeeb after Ashwin came round the wicket.Skipper Kane Williamson scored a quickfire 7-ball 14 but could not continue in the same vein as Kings XI managed to do some damage control with Shami taking two wickets, including Williamson’s, in the 19th over and Arshdeep Singh getting the back of Rashid Khan (1) in the last over.“I guess through the season you’re looking for points and we’re in the crunch time in the tournament. Big game for us and it’s been close to a complete performance,” Kane Williamson says.Brief ScoresSunrisers Hyderabad 212/6 (David Warner 81, Manish Pandey 36; R Ashwin 2/30, Mohammed Shami 2/36) beat Kings XI Punjab 167 for 8 (Rahul 79, Rashid 3-21, Khaleel 3-40) by 45 runs.