RESULT
9th match (N), Sharjah, April 22, 2014, Pepsi Indian Premier League
(19.2/20 ov, T:194) 121

Kings XI won by 72 runs

Player Of The Match
95 (43)
glenn-maxwell
Cricinfo's MVP
146.48 ptsImpact List
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No stopping Maxwell and Kings XI

Glenn Maxwell took home his third straight Man-of-the-Match award as Kings XI Punjab coasted to their third straight victory

Kings XI Punjab 193 for 6 (Maxwell 95, Bhuvneshwar 3-19) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 121 (Balaji 4-13) by 72 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Last season, Glenn Maxwell was the punchline to tons of millionaire jokes. He warmed the Mumbai Indians bench for much of the campaign, and was a peripheral figure in the three matches he did play. This time, the season is only a week old, and he's not just played three matches, he's been the Man of the Match in each.
The people laughing now will be Kings XI Punjab's owners who will view the million dollars they sunk on Maxwell as a bargain given the three impressive wins he has orchestrated at the start of the season. If the previous two victories had been thrilling encounters in which Kings XI hunted down massive scores, this was a forgettably one-sided affair after Maxwell put on a show again to lead the side to 193. Especially after L Balaji removed David Warner and Aaron Finch in the fifth over.
Sunrisers Hyderabad have a dangerous top order - any of Shikhar Dhawan, Warner or Finch can single-handedly transform a match - but they also have a dangerously unbalanced batting line-up. After the big three, the batting is alarmingly thin - KL Rahul is still finding his way at this level, Venugopal Rao isn't someone teams are going to worry about too much, Irfan Pathan is a spot too high at No. 6 and Darren Sammy is great at providing the finishing touches but less proficient at building the base.
Once Mitchell Johnson accounted for Dhawan and Balaji made his double breakthrough, it was a hour-long dirge for Sunrisers' fans before it ended in a crushing 72-run defeat, leaving them with plenty of questions over the composition of the team.
Warner won't just be disappointed with his low score, but also with his botched catch that reprieved Maxwell on 11. With Wriddhiman Saha slotted for No. 6, Kings XI don't have too much depth in their batting, something Sunrisers could have capitalised on had Warner held on to a fairly straightforward chance at long-off in the 10th over.
Instead, the chance went went down and Maxwell went on to pillage 95 off 43, including nine sixes. The highlight of the onslaught was the 13th over when Maxwell effortlessly cleared midwicket off the first three deliveries before launching one towards the sightscreen to take 25 runs off Amit Mishra. This innings had fewer of the switch-hits and reverse-sweeps and was more about clean hitting down the ground and, especially, over midwicket.
It was the prefect setting for Maxwell as the openers Cheteshwar Pujara and Virender Sehwag had provided a fast start from which he could build. He had plenty of luck as well - besides the Warner reprieve, he was caught off a no-ball, a skier was in the air for ages but evaded everyone when it landed at midwicket. Sunrisers also didn't bring on their main weapon, Dale Steyn, when Maxwell was in the midst of his carnage. Till he was 72 off 29, Maxwell faced neither Steyn nor Bhuvneshwar Kumar - both of whom combined to limit the damage at the end of the innings.
Still, though Kings XI didn't reach the 200 that they looked nailed on for, they reached a total which proved far too much for Sunrisers.

Siddarth Ravindran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Win Probability
KXIP 100%
KXIPSRH
100%50%100%KXIP InningsSRH Innings

Over 20 • SRH 121/10

Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Johnson b Dhawan 1 (3b 0x4 0x6 3m) SR: 33.33
W
Kings XI won by 72 runs
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SRH Innings
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Pepsi Indian Premier League
TEAMMWLPTNRR
KXIP14113220.968
KKR1495180.418
CSK1495180.385
MI1477140.095
RR1477140.060
SRH146812-0.399
RCB145910-0.428
DC142124-1.182