Glenn Maxwell bats Punjab to third straight victory in IPL 7
A disciplined allround performance by the Kings XI Punjab helped them register their third victory on the trot in IPL 7, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in Sharjah on Tuesday.
Punjab rode on Glenn Maxwell’s blistering 43-ball-95 to set a mammoth 194-run target against Shikhar Dhawan-led Hyderabad. In reply, Hyderabad were not able to put up a fight and Punjab bowlers came up with a superb show to bundle them out in 19.2 overs. Maxwell’s knock was studded with nine sixes and five fours. The Aussie, who was dropped by David Warner off Karn Sharma in the 10th over before Darren Sammy had him caught on a no-ball in the 15th over, shared 68 runs off 27 balls with David Miller for the third wicket. He also added 35 runs with Cheteshwar Pujara and 25 runs with skipper Bailey. Seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji returned with incredible figures of 4-0-13-4, while Mitchell Johnson (2 for 26) and Akshar Patel (2/20) snapped two wickets each. Sandeep Sharma (1/26) and Rishi Dhawan (1/23) took one each for Punjab. Chasing 194 to win, Hyderabad found the going tough as they were reduced to 33 for three in 4.5 overs. While Johnson drew the first blood dismissing skipper Shikhar Dhawan (1) in his second ball, it was Balaji’s twin strike in his opening over which derailed their run chase.
Balaji first knocked off Aaron Finch’s (19) stumps with an angled delivery, while two balls later, a back of a length delivery sent David Warner (8) back to the hut with Maxwell taking the catch at point.
Venugopal Rao (11) tried his bit and scored a couple of boundaries off Rishi Dhawan’s first over but he was sent back to the pavilion by Sandeep after the power-play overs.
Lokesh Rahul and Irfan Pathan tried to build a stand but spinner Akshar dislodged the latter’s bails as Hyderabad slipped further to 74 for five in 10.2 overs.
Sammy blasted 15 off 11 balls before becoming the third victim of Balaji, while Rahul’s 27-run innings was cut short by Patel in the 15th over. Rest of the batsmen also fell cheaply in their pursuit for quick runs.
Earlier put into bat, Virender Sehwag (30) and Cheteshwar Pujara (35) gave Punjab a good start, amassing their best opening partnership of 51 runs off 40 balls.
Sehwag blasted three sixes and two fours in his 22-ball 30 before holing out to Sammy at long on.
Pujara too departed in the 11th over when his attempt to clear the midwicket boundary ended with a good catch by Venugopal Rao. The Saurashtra batsman scored 35 off 32 balls with the help of six boundaries.
Maxwell continued from where he left as he sent the bowlers for a leather hunt once again with an array of shots.
In the 12th over, he cracked back-to-back boundaries, hitting a six and a four off Pathan, who was brought in the team in place of Ishant Sharma.
Maxwell exploded in the 13th over, blasting three successive sixes off Mishra, while Miller added another one as Punjab amassed 25 runs.
In the next over, Maxwell smashed one six and a couple of boundaries to pile up 16 runs off Sharma. He was given another reprieve when he was caught at deep midwicket on a no-ball in Sammy’s second over. Maxwell made Hyderabad pay for their mistake as he plundered another six across the deep backward square leg area.
Brought back into the attack, Bhuvneshwar got rid off Miller, who was caught by Warner at long off but Maxwell continued his rampage on the other end as he sent Dale Steyn across the third man boundary.
He blasted two more sixes off Mishra in the 18th over before being caught by Sammy at long off in the last ball.
Bhuvneshwar then dismissed Bailey (10) and Mitchell Johnson (4) in the last over to contain Punjab within the 200-mark.
For Hyderabad, Bhuvneshwar was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with figures of 4-0-19-3, while Mishra and Sammy took two and one wicket respectively.
