Sunrisers survive Miller assault on Ishant to beat Kings XI by 5 runs

Sunrisers Hyderabad survived a sensational David Miller onslaught on Monday to manage a tense five-run win over Kings XI Punjab and keep themselves in the race for IPL playoffs.

Sunrisers Hyderabad survived a sensational David Miller onslaught on Monday to manage a tense five-run win over Kings XI Punjab and keep themselves in the race for IPL playoffs.

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SRH skipper David Warner muscled his way to a blazing 81 from 52 balls as he yet again shouldered the responsibility of scoring runs, leading the hosts to a very challenging 185 for five after electing to bat.

David Miller played an breathtaking unbeaten 89-run knock off just 44 balls to bring Punjab agonisingly close to the win.

Punjab needed 28 from the last over. Miller managed to score 22 with three sixes and a four off Ishant Sharma. Miller hit nine sixes and two fours in his sensational knock.

The pitch was good for batting and Warner put on 56 runs for the first wicket with Shikhar Dhawan (24) and added 65 for the second with fellow Australian Moises Henriques (28).

Warner cleared the ropes five times and hit six boundaries before being dismissed in the 18th over. The Australian left-hander pulled, cut and drove ferociously, scoring boundary after boundary, and snatched the Orange Cap from Ajinkya Rahane.

Eoin Morgan (17), Lokesh Rahul (17) and Karn Sharma (11) also contributed with cameos to make it an impressive total.

Punjab managed a good start through Murali Vijay (24) and Manan Vohra (20), but left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma scalped both the openers to peg back the visitors, who ended at 180 for 7.

Vijay looked in good touch when he took 16 runs from Trent Boult's first over but Bipul (2/13) cut short his stay. The spinner flighted the ball well outside the
off stump, Vijay's drive failed to connect and Dhawan took a smart low catch in short covers.

Vohra tried to hoick Bipul's tossed-up delivery but found Bhuvaneshwar at long-on. Boult returned and got rid of Glenn Maxwell (11) with a peach of delivery that bounced, kissed the shoulder of the bat and flew to Naman Ojha's hands.

Young Lokesh Rahul pulled up a diving catch off Henriques to send back Wriddhinman Saha (5) and leave Punjab gasping at 65 for four. David Miller and skipper Geroge Bailey were left with a daunting task of scoring 124 runs with an asking rate of almost 11 an over.

The home bowlers though kept tightening their grip over the match with tidy bowling and regular strikes. Henriques was the most successful bowler, giving away just 16 runs and taking three wickets in his four overs.