Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers produced a clinical performance to restrict Kings XI Punjab to a modest 126 for seven in an Indian Premier League match in Dubai on Saturday.
SRH bowlers responded impressively to their skipper David Warner's decision to field first, picking wickets at regular intervals to control the innings.
KXIP Skipper K.L. Rahul (27), Mandeep Singh (17) and Chris Gayle (20) all got starts but their innings never got going as they failed to grab the momentum.
SRH perfectly planned Gayle's dismissal who came at one down. They kept the big-hitting batsman quiet for a long time, consistently bowling wide of the off stump and in the process frustrated him.
Gayle repeatedly tried to force his way out of the shackles but was dismissed by his West Indian teammate Jason Holder (2/27), caught at long-off by Warner with a wide of the stumps delivery in the 10th over.
Rashid Khan (2/14) then went through the defence of captain Rahul in the first ball off the next over as KXIP slumped to 66 for three.
Glenn Maxwell's (12) struggle with the bat continued as he too departed soon, holed out to Warner at long-on off Sandeep Sharma (2/29) before Deepak Hooda was stumped by Jonny Bairstow off Rashid.
Boundaries and sixes were hard to come by and KXIP batsmen's struggle can be gauged from the fact they failed to find the fence for more than 11 overs, which was finally broken by Nicholas Pooran in the 19th over.
Pooran ended being the top-scorer, making an unbeaten 32 off 28 balls.
