Sunrisers stay on top

Mustafizur Rahman took one wicket as the Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kings XI Punjab by seven wickets in a tense finish in Mohali yesterday. The win almost confirmed a place for Hyderabad in the playoffs and eliminated Punjab from the Indian Premier League.

Mustafizur, who finished with figures of 1 for 32, took his overall tally to 14 wickets in the IPL. While he did get the crucial wicket of Murali Vijay, it wasn't one of his better performances. And the reason behind that was Hashim Amla. The elegant stroke-player drove his way to 96 off just 56 balls with 14 fours and two sixes.

The South African enjoyed playing the scoop and the drives through cover and managed to hit Fizz for three fours in an over.

However, Amla's brilliant performance went in vain as a good batting show from Hyderabad ensured that they reach home in style. Captain David Warner set the foundation with a 41-ball 52 and he was well supported by DJ Hooda's 22-ball 34.

However, with 61 runs required off the last six overs they needed a flourish towards the end and that came from the bat off Yuvraj Singh. He smacked three sixes and three fours during his 24-ball 42.

In the second game, Krunal Pandya hit a 37-ball 86 in his maiden IPL fifty before bowlers took charge as Mumbai Indians pounded Delhi Daredevils by a comprehensive 80-run margin to jump to third spot.

SCORES IN BRIEF

PUNJAB V HYDERABAD
PUNJAB: 179 for 4 in 20 overs (Amla 96, Saha 27; Kumar 2-32, Mustafizur 1-32)
HYDERABAD: 180 for 3 in 19.4 overs (Warner 52, Yuvraj 42 not out; Patel 1-26)
Result: Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 7 wickets.
Player-of-the-match: Hashim Amla. 

MUMBAI V DELHI
MUMBAI: 206 for 4 in 20 overs (Guptill 48, Pandya 86; Morris 2-34)
DELHI:  126 all out in 19.1 overs (de Kock 40, Pant 23; Bumrah 3-13, Pandya 2-15)
Result: Mumbai won by 80 runs.
Player-of-the-match: KH Pandya