Sunrisers Hyderabad wary of mighty Kings XI Punjab

HYDERABAD: It was a fine opportunity for Sunrisers Hyderabad to enhance their tally and begin the home leg on a positive note, but Lendl Simmons and Ambati Rayudu had other plans and ran away with the match for Mumbai Indians. The hosts will now have to quickly put that seven-wicket defeat behind them ahead of their day-night game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Wednesday against Kings XI Punjab, who started IPL 7 in a rousing manner and continued the good work till Knight Riders Kolkata halted their run in Cuttack. Now stuck on eight points from nine games, the Sunrisers need to address the problem areas that seem to bog them down in the middle overs if they intend to make a match of it against Punjab, one of the two top teams in this edition along with Chennai Super Kings.Barring the odd occasion, it's been a case of 'you post 'em, we'll get 'em' with Kings XI Punjab, who had few problems in chasing down Chennai Super Kings' 205 in their opener, and in racking up five of the six top totals in this year's competition. That includes the high of 231/4 against CSK in Cuttack.The Aussie influence on Kings XI has been pronounced since the days of Adam Gilchrist, not to forget present Hyderabad coach Tom Moody, who will be up against a team he once coached.The toast of the tournament is Maxwell, the 25-year-old Victorian topping the tournament batting charts with 474 runs from nine innings.