MOHALI, Sept 18: Faisalabad Wolves were at the receiving end of another Shikhar Dhawan hammering as they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets on Wednesday which saw their hopes of reaching the main draw of the Champions League T20 come to an end.

Dhawan’s love affair with the PCA Stadium continued as he smashed 59 off 50 balls to help the IPL side cruise to the modest victory target of 128 in only 17.3 overs having also scored a half-century in his side’s eight-wicket victory over Sri Lanka’s Kandurata Maroons in their opening qualifying match on Tuesday.

With back to back victories, Sunrisers Hyderabad joined New Zealand's Otago Volts — who beat the Maroons in the earlier game on Wednesday — in the main draw while Wolves and Maroons bowed out of the tournament.

Dhawan, who has been in dream form, repeatedly pierced the off-side cordon starting with a cracking square cut. He also hit a front-foot cover drive off pacer Samiullah Khan and a back-foot punch off Saeed Ajmal. A flurry of boundaries from Dhawan and ably complemented by Parthiv Patel (23) helped the Sunrisers to kill the competition by the end of Powerplay.

At the end of six overs, Sunrisers were 51 for no loss and the match was all about the two openers matching each other stroke for stroke.

Wolves got a breakthrough when Patel couldn't execute a pull-shot perfectly off pacer Ehsan Adil's bowling which went straight into the hands of Khurram Manzoor at mid-wicket.

But Dhawan didn’t face too many problems as he completed his second successive half-century by stepping out to left-arm spinner Imran Khalid and dispatching him to the deep mid-wicket boundary.

Khalid had the last laugh as a fast low delivery beat Dhawan to rattle the stumps. However the match as a contest was over by then and Darren Sammy scored three consecutive boundaries to finish the match in emphatic style.

Earlier, a disciplined effort from Sunrisers’ bowlers saw them restrict Wolves to a modest 127.

Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq top-scored for his side with an unbeaten knock of 56 off 40 balls. Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra was easily the best bowler on view with economical figures of one for 13 from four overs.

In the earlier game, Otago Volts, powered by Ryan ten Doeschate’s 32-ball 64, made light work of their chase of 155 to register a convincing six-wicket victory against Maroons.

The Maroons were pretty much in control of the match at the half way mark, at which point the Volts needed 93 from 10 overs. But ten Doeschate announced his intentions by slamming Kaushal Lokuarachchi for three consecutive sixes.

Earlier, Volts skipper Brendon McCullum chose to field first after winning the toss. His bowlers vindicated the decision as they kept a tight leash on the Kandurata Maroons batsmen as the Sri Lankans managed only one four and a six and crawled to 25-1 after six overs.

Upul Tharanga, who weathered the storm, mad 76 as the Maroons finished at 154-9.

On Tuesday, a record partnership between Dhawan (71) and Patel (52) demolished the Maroons by eight wickets. Chasing 169, Dhawan and Patel set the platform with a 121-run partnership.

Put in to bat, the Maroons finished at 168-3 with half-centuries from skipper Lahiru Thirimanne and Sangakkara (61 off 46, seven fours) were the highlights of the Sri Lankan outfit’s innings.

Results:

Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Faisalabad Wolves by seven wickets.

FAISALABAD WOLVES 127-5 in 20 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 56*; K.V. Sharma

1-11, A. Mishra 1-14); SUNRISERS HYDERABAD 131-3 in 17.3 overs (S. Dhawan 59; Imran Khalid 2-14).

Otago Volts beat Kandurata Maroons by six wickets.

KANDURATA MAROONS 154-9 in 20 overs (W.U. Tharanga 76; I.G. Butler 3-21, R.N. ten Doeschate 2-9); OTAGO VOLTS 157-4 in 18 overs (R.N. ten Doeschate 64, J.D.S. Neesham 32 not out, N.T. Broom 25; D. Lokuhettige 3-20).

Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Kandurata maroons by eight wickets.

KANDURATA MAROONS 168-3 in 20 overs (K.C. Sangakkara 61 not out, H.D.R.L. Thirimanne 54, D. Lokuhettige 21 not out; I. Sharma 2-20); SUNRISERS HYDERABAD 174-2 in 18.3 overs (S. Dhawan 71, P.A. Patel 52, N.L.T.C. Perera 32 not out).—Agencies