Hyderabad, Apr 29: David Warner signed off his IPL 2019 campaign in style, notching up his eight fifty of the season to help Sunrisers Hyderabad take a step closer towards qualifying for the play-offs with a comfortable 45-run win over Kings XI Punjab here Monday.

Playing his last match of season before heading home for World Cup preparations, Warner struck a belligerent 81 off 56 balls with seven fours and two sixes to complete his IPL 2019 campaign with 692 runs, the highest so far in the tournament.

Chasing the imposing total, K L Rahul (79 off 56, 4x4s, 5x6s) made a valiant effort with the bat but lacked support from the other end as Kings XI were restricted to 167 for eight.

By virtue of this win, Sunrisers have consolidated their fourth position in the table with 12 points from 12 games, while Kings XI are at 10 points from as many matches.

Both the teams have two more matches to go with Kings XI still in the hunt.

Kings XI needed a brisk start but they didn't get one, losing explosive Chris Gayle early.

Gayle departed in the first ball of the third over, brilliantly caught by Manish Pandey off Khaleel Ahmed (3/40) with Kings XI scoreboard reading 11.

Thereafter, Rahul and Mayank Agarwal (27 off 18) added 60 off 39 balls to take Kings XI forward.

But just when the partnership was looking threatening, Agarwal was holed by Vijay Shankar off Rashid Khan (3/21) in the ninth over.

New man in Nicholas Pooran (21 off 10) played a short breezy knock before Bhuvneshwar Kumar took a beautiful catch at long-leg boundary off Ahmed to sent packing the batsman.

Rashid then came to the party and picked up two wickets -- David Miller (11 off 11) and skipper Ravichandran Ashwin in consecutive balls in the 13th over to stand in chance of registering a hat-trick which didn't materialise.

From there on, the asking was tall for Rahul and debutant Prabhsimran Singh (16) and the former finally perished in the 19th over after a beautiful knock to shut the doors for Kings XI.

Earlier, Warner and Wriddhiman Saha (28 off 13) got Sunrisers off to a brisk start after being sent into bat. The duo took the Kings XI bowlers to the cleaners to pile up 77 runs of the first six overs of powerplay.

Warner made his intentions clear from the onset, hitting young Arshdeep Singh for two boundaries in the opening over and then followed it up with a six over long-off in Mujeeb Ur Rahman's next over.

Mujeeb was in for some treatment as Warner hit two more boundaries in the spinner's next over and then Saha also found the fence to bring up Sunrisers' fifty in the fourth over.

Saha then went after Mohammed Shami (2/36) and hit the pacer for a boundary and six off consecutive balls.

Saha's innings came to an end when he under-edged a Murugan Ashwin delivery to debutant Prabhsimran Singh behind the stumps. Saha shared 78 runs off 6.2 overs with Warner for the opening stand.

Warner continued in the same vein and notched up his eight fifty of the season with a boundary off Shami in the 12th over.

Then came in in-form Manish Pandey (36 off 25) and he too played a quick knock in Warner's company.

Pandey, who struck three fours and a six, added 82 off 55 balls along with Warner before Kings XI skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (2/20) struck twin blows in the 16th over to remove both the set batsmen.

First Ashwin accounted for Pandey and then two balls later dismissed Warner, caught by Mujeeb at point of what was a tired-looking shot.

Then skipper Kane Williamson (14 off 7) and Mohammad Nabi (20 off 10) also played short cameos towards the end.

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Hyderabad (PTI): Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi on Wednesday night and urged him to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state in view of its growing administrative and security needs.

The two leaders also discussed the recent surrender of several senior Maoist leaders before the Telangana Police and other issues.

"During the meeting, the two leaders discussed the issue of Maoist surrenders and their rehabilitation. The chief minister informed Shah that significant improvements in policing have taken place in Telangana over the past two years," an official release here said.

Highlighting that 591 Maoists have laid down their arms and joined the mainstream of society during this period, the chief minister said the state government was providing them compensation and rehabilitation assistance as per the rules.

He requested the Union home minister to extend financial support from the central government for development works in the backward regions of the state.

Reddy also urged Shah to increase the sanctioned strength of IPS officers to the state from 83 to 105 in line with the state's growing administrative and security needs, the statement said.

The first cadre review after the formation of Telangana was conducted in 2016, while the next review, due in 2021, was delayed and finally carried out in 2025. Even then, only seven additional IPS officers were allocated to the state, the chief minister informed Shah and requested that the third cadre review be conducted in 2026 as per the schedule.

Reddy explained that Telangana, like the rest of the country, is facing several modern challenges, including cybercrime, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, and other emerging security threats.

He highlighted the reorganisation of the Hyderabad, Cyberabad, and Malkajgiri Police Commissionerates, the proposed formation of the Future City Commissionerate and the rapidly growing population in Hyderabad to underline the increasing administrative requirements of the state.