IPL 7: 'Mad Max' blows away Hyderabad as Kings XI score hat-trick of wins

SharjahGlenn Maxwell continued his rampaging run by smashing yet another blistering halfcentury to power Kings XI Punjab to a convincing 72run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL7 match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on TuesdayAfter scoring 95 and 89 in his last two innings Maxwell once again produced a devastating knock 43ball 95which was studded with nine sixes and five fours as Punjab posted an imposing 193 for six in their stipulated 20 oversLakshmipathy Balaji of the Kings X1 Punjab celebrates the wicket of David Warner of the Sunrisers Hyderabad during an IPL 7 match in Sharjah on Tuesday PTI PhotoBCCIGeorge Baileys men then came up with a clinical bowling display to dismiss Hyderabad for 121 with four balls to spare at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium as Punjab registered their third straight win in IPL7 Maxwell proved that fortune favours the brave as he made good use of the two lives that he got during in his innings by cracking nine sixes and five fours in his 43ball 95run inningsMaxwell who was dropped by David Warner off Karn Sharma in the 10th over before Darren Sammy had him caught on a noball in the 15th over shared 68 runs off 27 balls with David Miller for the third wicketHe also added 25 runs off 15 balls with George BaileyMaxwell fell short of a century once again this time by five runs when he was dismissed by Amit Mishra in the 18th overSeam bowler Lakshmipathy Balaji returned with incredible figures of 40134 while Mitchell Johnson 2 for 26 and Akshar Patel 220 snapped two wickets eachSandeep Sharma 126 and Rishi Dhawan 123 took one each for PunjabChasing 194 to win Hyderabad found the going tough as they were reduced to 33 for three in 45 oversWhile Mitchell Johnson struck the first blow dismissing skipper Shikhar Dhawan 1 in his second ball it was Balajis twin strike in his opening over which derailed their runchaseBalaji first knocked off Aaron Finchs 19 stumps with an angled delivery while two balls later a back of a length delivery sent David Warner 8 back to the hut with Maxwell taking the catch at pointNewman Y Venugopal Rao 11 tried his bit and scored a couple of boundaries off Dhawans first over but he was sent back to the pavilion by Sandeep after the powerplay oversLokesh Rahul and Irfan Pathan tried to build a stand but spinner Akshar dislodged the latters bails as Hyderabad slipped further to 74 for five in 102 oversSammy blasted 15 off 11 balls before becoming the third victim of Balaji while Rahuls 27run innings was cut short by Patel in the 15th over Rest of the batsmen also fell cheaply in their pursuit for quick runsEarlier put into batVirender Sehwag 30 and Cheteshwar Pujara 35 gave Punjab a good start amassing their best opening partnership of 51 runs off 40 balls Sehwag blasted three sixes and two fours in his 22ball 30 before holing out to Sammy at long onGlenn Maxwell of the Kings XI Punjab plays a shot during an IPL 7 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sharjah on Tuesday PicPTIBCCIPujara too departed in the 11th over when his attempt to clear the midwicket boundary ended with a good catch by Venugopal Rao The Saurashtra batsman scored 35 off 32 balls with the help of six boundariesMaxwell continued from where he left as he sent the bowlers for a leather hunt once again with an array of shotsIn the 12th over the Australian cracked backtoback boundaries hitting a six and a four off Irfan Pathan who was brought in the team in place of Ishant Sharma The 25yearold allrounder exploded in the 13th over blasting three successive sixes off Mishra while Miller added another one as Punjab amassed 25 runs In the next over Maxwell smashed one six and a couple of boundaries to pile up 16 runs off Sharma He another reprieve when he was caught at deep midwicket on a noball in Sammys second over Maxwell made Hyderabad pay for their mistake as he plundered another six across the deep backward square leg area Brought back into the attack Bhuvneshwar got rid off Miller when he was caught by Warner at long off but Maxwell continued his rampage on the other end as he sent Dale Steyn across the third man boundary He blasted two more sixes off Mishra in the 18th over before being caught by Sammy at long off in the last ball Bhuvneshwar then dismissed Bailey 10 and Mitchell Johnson 4 in the last over to contain Punjab within the 200mark For Hyderabad Bhuvneshwar was the best bowlers as he returned with figures of 40193 while Mishra and Sammy took two and one wicket respectively