Glenn Maxwell departs after explosive 95, Kings XI Punjab at 179/4 after 18 overs vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

Apr 22, 2014

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With just two more overs remaining in the first innings, the Kings XI Punjab are reaching towards a mammoth target having already scored xxx runs for the loss of four wickets after 18 overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL 2014 encounter.

Glenn Maxwell hs just been dismissed for 95 off 43 balls, after he destroyed the SRH attack. From  this position, Punjab will hope to reach close to 200 by the end of the innings. He was severe on all the SRH bowlers after riding his luck. He was dropped once by David Warner, and then was caught off Darren Sammy’s bowling, but it was turned down as a no-ball.

Ealier in the innings, batting first for the first time in IPL 2014, Kings XI Punjab started off in quiet fashion against Sunrisers Hyderabad’s pace attack. Both their openers, Virender Sehwag and Cheteshwar Pujara could manage just three runs off the first two overs from Dale Steyn and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. But then, Sehwag dismissed Irfan Pathan in the third over for 16 runs. He started the over with a six in the square-leg region, then pulled one for four, and then ended the over with a lofted straight drive for four.

That over in fact opened the floodgates for Punjab as Sehwag hit his second six of the match in the fourth over, off Bhuvneshwar. But the icing on the cake so far has been Steyn’s fifth over to Pujara. The traditional Indian opener first came down the track to loft him over mid-wicket for four. He then repeated the same result in the long-on region. And then flicked the next ball fine of square-leg for the third boundary of the over.

But Sehwag’s show couldn’t go on. He hit Amit Mishra for a six in the second ball of the seventh over, then went for another, but Mishra pitched it slightly wider of off-stump, and Sehwag holed out to Darren Sammy at long-on. Sehwag’s dismissal brought Maxwell to the crease.

Maxwell took his time early on to settle down, while Pujara went after the bowlers. Maxwell finally freed his arms and hit his first six off Karn Sharma in 10th over. That over turned out to be the most eventful one as after that six, Maxwell went for another big one over long-0ff. He didn’t time the shot, and David Warner spilled a sitter of a chance. The next ball, Pujara went for the big one over long-on, this too should have been caught by the fielder, but Sammy lost it in the last moment in the floodlights.

SRH finally got Pujara in the next over when he fell to Sammy. Pujara’s dismissal meant the birth of what has been the most explosive partnership in IPL 2014 — Maxwell and David Miller.

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