IPL: Sunrisers top order fire in win over Kings XI

IPL scores (Mohali)

Sunrisers Hyderabad (20/20) 207-3 (Dhawan 77, Williamson 54*, Warner 51; Maxwell 2-29)

Kings XI Punjab (20/20) 181-9 (Marsh 84, Morgan 26, Guptill 23; Kaul 3-36, Nehra 3-42)

Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 26 runs

Match report

Sunrisers Hyderabad saw off a spirited Kings XI Punjab side, beating their hosts by 26 runs in Mohali to secure a first away win of IPL 10.

Set an imposing 208 to win, Shaun Marsh's impressive 50-ball 84 took Kings XI close but his effort was ultimately in vain as the defending champions held on.

Earlier, Sunrisers' top order fired, with openers David Warner (51 off 27 balls) and Shikhar Dhawan (77 off 48), as well as Kane Williamson (54no off 27), all hitting half centuries.

Put into bat, another impressive opening stand between Warner and Dhawan (pictured) saw Sunrisers to 60-0 at the end of the six-over powerplay, though Warner was fortunate to be dropped by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha on 25.

The pair then reached individual fifties off consecutive balls, although Warner was bowled by his Australian team-mate Glenn Maxwell (2-29) soon after.

As a result, the boundaries dried up briefly, and Dhawan soon joined his skipper back in the pavilion when out slogging Mohit Sharma (1-34) to deep midwicket. But Williamson's second fifty in three innings lifted the Sunrisers over 200.

In reply, Martin Guptill - in his first game of IPL 10 - got Kings XI off to a great start, blasting four fours and a six in an 11-ball 23 at the top of the order.

A knuckle ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-27) did for Guptill in the third over, while Manan Vohra (three) and Maxwell (0) fell in the fourth and fifth, to Ashish Nehra (3-42) and Siddarth Kaul (3-36) respectively.

Eoin Morgan - in a rare IPL 10 appearance for Kings XI - stuck around with Marsh, scoring a solid if not spectacular 26 off 21 balls while his partner played the role of aggressor.

However, both struggled to pick Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, who returned impressive figures of 1-16 from his four overs - his solitary victim being Morgan in the 14th over.

Marsh was dropped twice in the overs either side of that Rashid strike, but the errors didn't prove too costly as Kumar finally picked him up in the 16th and from there the Kings XI challenge faded.