Thisara Perera played blinder of an innings smashing an unbeaten 32 off 11 to take Hyderabad to victory target of 169 in 18.3 overs.
Dhawan and Parthiv Patel gave blistering start and went on to add century stand to ensure Sunrisers open their campaign on a winning note.
Dhawan smashed 11 boundaries in his match-winning knock while Patel also scored half-century, making 52 off 42 with the help of seven fours.
Earlier, Kumar Sangakkara smashed his way to an unbeaten 61 as Kandurata Maroons scored a challenging 168 for three.
The Sri Lankan side was struggling, having lost both the openers inside first five over, but Sangakkara and skipper Lahiru Thirimanne (54) joined forces to help the side a stiff target before the Indian outfit.
The two shared a 89-run stand for the third wicket and it was Hyderabad paceman Ishant Sharma, who broke the partnership when he clean bowled Thirimanne with a full length delivery.
Sharma was the best bowler to watch as he kept the Lankan batsmen under a leash, giving away just 20 runs and taking two crucial wickets.
Before being bowled by him, Thirimanne tormented the Indian side with his 39-ball innings, which had five fours and two sixes. Sangakkara's 46-ball knock was embellished with seven fours apart from impressive running between the wickets.
At the start, Tharanga (19) was in superb touch as he hit four sweetly-timed boundaries off Dale Steyn to give his side a quick start after being invited to bat. However, Sharma was troubling both the Lankan openers with the bounce.
One such delivery in the fourth over gave Hyderabad their first wicket as Tharanga's faint edge, while charging, was comfortably taken by wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel.
Opener Shehan Jayasuriya (4) did not get much of strike and opened his account in the fifth with a boundary off Darren Sammy but was caught behind two balls later.
Sharma was bowled a very miserly three-over spell as he gave away just six runs as Maroons could manage just 37 runs from the first six power-play overs.
Using all his experience, Sangakkara then combined with Thirimanne to not only stabilise but also give impetuous to their innings by scoring briskly.
The two left-handers batted comfortably and scored effortlessly, hitting some delectable shots to both sides of the wicket.


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