Warner and Bairstow punish sloppy Knight Riders

David Warner and Jonny Bairstow crushed Kolkata Knight Riders, who slumped to their fifth consecutive defeat. The Sunrisers Hyderabad batting pair put on 131 in just 12.2 overs, which reduced the 160-run chase to a cakewalk in the end.

Bairstow finished unbeaten on 80 off 43 balls with four sixes and seven fours while Warner, who was the only batsman to be dismissed in the second innings, made 67 off 38 balls with three fours and five sixes.

When they bowled, it was Rashid Khan who held back the Knight Riders middle order after Khaleel Ahmed had given them a strong start with a three-wicket haul

Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine struck five fours and three sixes in the first 2.3 overs, and just as they reached a crescendo, Khaleel's slower ball stung Narine's leg-stump. The left-arm quick had been struck for a six and two fours off two previous deliveries, so his celebration was understandably one of rage.

Khaleel made it a double breakthrough when he removed Shubman Gill, who guided the ball to point where Vijay Shankar took a simple catch. The Knight Riders were already losing much of their early impetus when Bhuvneshwar had Nitish Rana caught behind and Dinesh Karthik self-destructed with a run out in the ninth over.

The usually big hitting Chris Lynn ended up making his slowest IPL fifty - 51 off 47 balls - having been at the crease for an hour and a half. He would have gone after almost every ball but the Knight Riders also needed him to bat through after they lost four wickets in less than six overs, for only 31 runs.

Lynn, who added 51 runs for the fifth wicket with Rinku Singh, got out with three overs left in the innings and even Andre Russell couldn't salvage a decent enough score this time.

Knight Riders finished with 159 for 8 in 20 overs, due in large part to Russell coming in late and Lynn holding himself back.

In four out of nine innings so far, Warner and Bairstow have put together a 100-plus stand, now just behind Dhawan and Warner for most century partnerships for the first wicket in the IPL.

Warner began the onslaught with a straight six off newcomer Prithvi Raj. But only a few balls later, KC Cariappa put down a sitter at deep point off Bairstow's slash. Sixteen came off that over, before Cariappa' nightmare outing continued, leaking 20 runs off his first over, which included two sixes.

They brought up the 100-run stand in the ninth over, before Warner pasted Narine for his fifth six. Bairstow, who was the more conservative of the two openers, got two more lives, on 55 and 58, before Raj bowled Warner in the 13th over. Bairstow, then, cut loose in the 15th over when his third and fourth sixes completed the chase.