IPL 7: Maxwell's whirlwind 95 takes Kings XI Punjab to 193

SHARJAH: Glenn Maxwell continued his rampaging run by smashing yet another blistering half-century to power Kings XI Punjab to an imposing 193 for six against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL 7 match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
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 43-ball 95-run innings.
Maxwell, who was dropped by David Warner off Karn Sharma in the 10th over before Darren Sammy had him caught on a no-ball in the 15th over, shared 68 runs off 27 balls with David Miller for the third wicket. He also added 25 runs off 15 balls with George Bailey.
After scoring 95 and 89 in his last two innings, Maxwell once again produced a devastating innings but fell short of a century by five runs when he was dismissed by Amit Mishra in the 18th over.
Put into bat, Virender 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 22-ball 30 before holing out to Sammy at long on.
Pujara too departed in the 11th over when his attempt to clear the midwicket boundary ended with a good catch by Y Venugopal Rao. The Saurashtra batsman scored 35 off 32 balls with the help of six boundaries.
Maxwell continued from where he left as he sent the bowlers for a leather hunt once again with an array of shots.
In the 12th over, the Australian cracked back-to-back boundaries, hitting a six and a four off Irfan Pathan, who was brought in the team in place of Ishant Sharma.
The 25-year-old all-rounder exploded in the 13th over, blasting three successive sixes off Mishra, while David 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 no-ball in Sammy's 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 200-mark.