The Sunrisers Hyderabad comfortably defeated Kings XI Punjab by 5 wickets to secure their third victory in the IPL 2016 with Mustafizur Rahman's outstanding bowling and skipper David Warner's destructive batting dominating the headlines.
The Kings XI looked hapless throughout as the hosts completely dominated the opponents condemning them to their fourth loss in just five games as they continue to remain rooted to the bottom of the table. Apart from Axar Patel's little cameo, the visitors had little to cheer about in a game where they were thoroughly outplayed.
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The contest might not have been a thriller but there were several memorable moments from the match that don't fade away, quite like the Axe Signature range of body perfumes. Here are 5 of the best:
Mustafizur Rahim – A legend in the making
Mustafizur Rahman has been a revelation in the IPL and tonight was his best performance thus far. He was virtually unplayable tonight as he bowled in the perfect areas where the batsmen found it tough to negotiate the ball even for singles. He started off with a maiden over and picked up the wicket of the dangerous Shaun Marsh in his next over.
His second and third overs went for just three runs in total and bowling the final over of the innings, he picked up the wicket of Nikhil Naik. That over went for six runs as Mustafizur's figures at the end of the day read a remarkable 4-1-9-2. The Bangladeshi youngster is surely destined for bigger things in the future.
Moises Henriques double blow
The Australian all-rounder might still be on the fringes of the national team but he is a favourite among T20 franchises around the world.
After starting off poorly in the first two matches, Henriques had bowled economically in the previous two matches that Hyderabad won and today he went one better picking up the wickets of Glenn Maxwell and David Miller in a single over to derail the Kings XI innings.
The visitors could never recover from the double blow as their total of 143 was never going to be enough against a team which has an in-form David Warner opening the innings.
Axar Patel's cameo
Axar Patel might not have had a day to remember with the ball, but he chipped in with the bat when his team needed it. His effort might not have come in a winning cause, but if he can reproduce such knocks in the coming matches, Punjab Kings XI can certainly look forward to better totals.
Patel hit three sixes in his unbeaten knock of 36 from 17 balls and looked comfortable even against Mustafizur. It was Patel's knock that added a measure of respectability to their total but in the end, it all proved too little for the in-form Warner-Dhawan combo.
David Warner firing on all cylinders
With each passing innings, David Warner is making sure the Australian team management continue to regret their decision not to open the innings with the explosive left-hander. The skipper has been on song for Sunrisers Hyderabad right from the word go and he sits comfortably with the Orange Cap, leading the IPL 2016 run getters chart by some distance.
Warner is looking in destructive mood and there seems little that any bowler can do at the moment. Even the good deliveries are being treated with disdain and at one point it seemed that the game would be over by the half-way stage only for Sandeep Sharma to bring his innings to a close at 59 of just 31 balls in a knock which included seven fours and three maximums.
Shikhar Dhawan slowly regaining confidence
What a difference a day makes! Till a couple of days ago, everyone was calling for Shikhar Dhawan's head as he carried forward his woeful run of form during the World T20 to the IPL as well. He managed to get back in touch with an unbeaten half-century against the Gujarat Lions and the boost in confidence shone through on the field as well.
Fielding at short cover, Dhawan picked the ball up cleanly and hit the wickets direct to dismiss Manan Vohra, whose bat was in the air as the ball cleaned up the stumps. It seemed as if Vohra had made it back but the quick reactions from Dhawan ensured that the few milliseconds made all the difference. Dhawan, as usual, celebrated with his usual swag.
Though he looked far from assured with the bat, there are enough positive signs to suggest that we might get to see an on-song Dhawan sooner rather than later.
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