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Match Report:

Scorecard

Warner triumphs in battle with Maxi

Aussie opener carries bat for unbeaten 70 to help Sunrisers Hyderabad to narrow win against Glenn Maxwell's Kings XI Punjab

The result: Sunrisers Hyderabad 6-159 (Warner 70*) defeated Kings XI Punjab 154 (Vohra 95, Kumar 5-19) by five runs

The match in a tweet: Warner carries bat for another half-century and Bhuvi blasts out five as Sunrisers secure narrow win over Maxi's Kings XI

The unstoppable opener: David Warner piling up bulk runs in the Indian Premier League seems par for the course these days, he does it so often. And up against Australia teammate Glenn Maxwell at the coin toss, Warner wasn't about to disappoint again. With wickets falling around him, including Yuvraj Singh first ball, it wasn't all guns blazing in this knock from Warner. The Aussie vice-captain hit just two maximums and seven other boundaries. But his unbeaten 70 – from a sedate (by T20 standards) 54 balls – was vitally important for his side. The second of his sixes were his last runs off the bat, coming in the final over and helped over the rope by England limited overs skipper Eoin Morgan who let a simple chance slip through his fingers. Warner continues to be the IPL's leading run scorer in its 10th season, now with 235 runs from the five matches (averaging 78.33).

The Aussie Pack: Warner aside, it was a relatively quiet night for the Australian contingent. Glenn Maxwell was of course busy pulling the strings in the field as Kings XI captain, and his use of Axar Patel through the middle overs reaped rewards, including the wicket of Moises Henriques, stumped for 9. Henriques did bowl two very tidy overs, conceding just six runs and extracting a measure of revenge on Patel to drag him wide and having him spoon a catch to the sweeper. Maxwell found himself in from the second ball of the run chase and quickly smashed two boundaries, but an attempt to loft his first six saw him mis-time a slower ball and loft it straight into the hands of Warner at long-off, and boy, wasn't the Sunrisers captain pumped up about that wicket.

The Afghan contingent: Rashid Khan has made waves already in this tournament but this match was the IPL debut for his national teammate Mohammad Nabi. Afghanistan have become a force to be reckoned with in Twenty20 cricket, boasting an impressive recent record, and this duo showed why. Their spin bowling was a thing of beauty, Nabi claiming his first wicket by completely outfoxing England's Eoin Morgan. Not to be outdone, Rashid struck next over, first removing the dangerous South African power-hitter David Miller then India's Test wicketkeeper Wridhiman Saha in the space of three balls. All three dismissed batsmen had their stumps knocked over by the Afghan pair, and none looked very close to laying a bat on the deliveries.

The valiant effort: This was a pitch in which it took time to get in, making the contribution from openers vital – as Warner had proved. And so it was that Manan Vohra nearly orchestrated the perfect run chase for Kings XI. Vohra made the most of his luck in this knock, given not out when struck plumb in front by Nabi's arm ball, and dropped in the deep when he should have been caught. He fell for 95 in the penultimate over, the fifth of Bhuvneshwar Kumar's victims, with 15 left on the board. But with nine fours and five sixes in his 50 balls – striking at 190 throughout – it was his efforts that dragged Kings XI so close.

The wash-up: Warner's Sunrisers next host the Delhi Daredevils on Wednesday, where the pace of Pat Cummins will look to hurry up the home side. Kings XI now head home to face the rampant Mumbai Indians on Thursday.