With a playoff berth at stake, Sunrisers Hyderabad had everything to play for and they weathered a stiff resistance from Kings XI Punjab on Monday.

The crisis of confidence was apparent in the Punjab outfit on a night when nothing went right for them after skipper George Bailey lost the toss and David Warner had no hesitation in deciding to have first hit at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Two good partnerships with skipper Warner at the forefront powered Sunrisers to 185 for five and though equally profligate as their Punjab counterparts, it was only a matter of time before the hosts completed the formalities of a five-run victory; their third on the trot after wins in Mumbai and Raipur last week. David Miller launched a late attack, hammering a 44-ball 89 but that proved futile.

Warner also had the satisfaction of eclipsing Ajinkya Rahane in the run charts. The SRH skipper now has 504 runs in IPL 8 and in smashing 81 (52b, 4x6, 6x5), the southpaw showed he only gets better with every match here - he had scored 61 (28b) against CSK in their first match at this venue.

With 56 runs coming for the first wicket in just 37 deliveries, the Sunrisers looked unstoppable till Glenn Maxwell lured Shikhar Dhawan (24; 18b, 4x4) to his doom, but if Kings XI harboured any hopes of arespite, it was not to be as Warner motored along in the company of Moises Henriques.

The Australian duo realised 65 for the second wicket in 46 deliveries (28; 24b, 4x4), wreaking havoc on Akshar Patel in his second over and to make it worse for the Kings XI, Eoin Morgan joined the party , gleaning 17 runs (7b, 4x1, 6x2) from a Maxwell over.

Partnerships - even KL Rahul, one of the three changes the Sunrisers made to the team that defeated Delhi Daredevils in Raipur, Bipul Sharma and Trent Boult being the other two, was involved in an unbroken one with Karn Sharma - were clearly missing in the Punjab innings.

Once the initial flurry was subdued by Bipul Sharma with Dhawan taking a smart, low catch at cover to get rid of Murali Vijay, the fight fizzled out till Miller made things interesting.

- Manohar