Hyderabad: Afghan guns boomed. The Punjab Kings were doomed. That was pretty much the story on a manic Monday as the rookies from a cricket-obscure country shook the IPL in a double barrel show.
Seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar added to the carnage with a five-wicket haul that sealed the deal.
Punjab opener Manan Vohra was the lone ranger, firing relentlessly from the trenches until he was the ninth man out in the penultimate over. The gritty batsman smashed a fighting 95 that came off 50 balls and was embellished with nine boundaries and five sixes.
Midway through, mystery spinners from Afghanistan Mohammed Nabi and Rashid Khan turned the game for the hosts as they defended a measly 159 with aplomb to wrap up the visitors for 154.
Bhuvneshwar took five wickets conceding 19 runs in his four overs to provide the finishing touch in a humdinger that was decided with two balls to go.
Nabi’s economical figures read 4-0-28-1 while Rashid took 2/42 in his four overs, the last one going for 21. Both bowlers had their victims clean bowled to set the stands alight.
Earlier, Warner played a lone hand was extended a helping one by batsman Naman Ojha as the defending champions put up a modest 159/6.
The hosts resembled rabbits caught in headlights as they froze on a warm summer night much to the chagrin of their supporters. Warner smacked seven boundaries and two sixes in his 54-ball unbeaten 70 while Ojha contributed 34.
They were involved in a steadying partnership of 60 runs for the fourth wicket that lent some respectability to the team total.
After having got off to good starts in their previous two matches at this venue, the Sunrisers were a pale shadow of themselves.
The Kings put their rivals in to bat, and made them crawl.
Scorecard
Sunrisers Hyderabad: D. Warner (not out) 70, S. Dhawan c Saha b M. Sharma 15, M. Henriques st Saha b Patel 9, Yuvraj c Saha b Patel 0, N. Ojha st Saha b Cariappa 34, D. Hooda c Sandeep Sharma b M. Sharma 12, Mohammad Nabi c Miller b Sandeep Sharma 2, Rashid Khan (not out) 6. Extras: (b 1, lb 4, w 6) 11. Total: (for 6 wkts, in 20 overs) 159.
FoW: 1-25, 2-50, 3-50, 4-110, 5-140, 6-146.
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 4-0-35-1, I. Sharma 4-0-23-0 (3w), M. Sharma 4-0-25-2, Cariappa 4-0-38-1 (1w), Patel 4-0-33-2 (1w)
Kings XI Punjab: H. Amla lbw b Kumar 0, M. Vohra lbw b Kumar 95, G. Maxwell c Warner b Kumar 10, E. Morgan b Nabi 13, D. Miller b Rashid Khan 1, W. Saha b Rashid Khan 0, A. Patel c Dhawan b Henriques 7, M. Sharma c Dhawan b Kumar 10, K. Cariappa b Kumar 1, I. Sharma b Kaul 2, S. Sharma not out 5
Extras: (lb 4, w 5, 1nb) 10. Total: (in 19.4 overs) 154
FoW: 1-0, 2-16, 3-57, 4-62, 5-62, 6-82, 7-127, 8-144, 9-145, 10-154
Bowling: Kumar 4-0-19-5 (1nb), Sran 2-0-29-0 (1w), Kaul 3.4-0-26-1 (3w), Nabi 4-0-28-1, Khan 4-0-42-2 (1w), Henriques 2-0-6-1
