Hyderabad: Leading from the front, skipper David Warner smashed his way to a blazing 81 from 52 balls as Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a challenging 185 for five against Kings XI Punjab in an IPL cricket match, here on Monday.
Warner yet again shouldered the responsibility of scoring runs while opening the innings as he put on 56 runs for the first wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (24) and added another 65 for the second with fellow Australian Moises Henriques (28).
Warner cleared the ropes five times and hit the boundary ropes six times before being dismissed in the 18th over. He was in glorious touch and Punjab bowlers were in for some severe punishment. The Australian left-hander pulled, cut and drove ferociously, scoring boundary after boundary.
Dhawan too played some delectable shots as Hyderabad sprinted to 51 in just 4.2 overs. Paceman Anureet Singh stemmed the rot a bit by giving away just three runs in the last Power-play over.
Glenn Maxwell brought some smile by having Dhawan stumped in the very first ball he bowled. The burly Henriques, Hyderabad's hero in the last game against Delhi Daredevils, was promoted up the order as he joined Warner at the crease.
The spin trio of Gurkeerat Singh, Axar Patel and Maxwell though put a brake on the scoring rate.
Left-arm paceman Hendricks, who had conceded 18 runs in his first over, was brought back but he still leaked 13 runs as SRH reached 86 for one after 10 overs.
Wanre brought his fifty and team's hundred with a flat off-side six off Patel and lifted the left-arm spinner for another six over long on three balls later.
Gurkeerat was given the same treatment by Warner but the spinner got rid of Henriques. Eoin Morgan joined his skipper and the left-handed Briton got down to business straightaway, hitting Maxwell for two sixes and a four.
Morgan, though, did not last long. He was scalped by Hendricks, thanks to a stunning catch in the deep by Manan Vohra. SRH quickly lost Warner, who chipped one from Hendricks to Gurkeerat at mid-wicket, and Naman Ojha in consecutive balls. Ojha was run out.
Lokesh Rahul (17) and Karn Sharma (11) added quick 28 runs for the sixth wicket to add to total.
