Kings XI Punjab v Pune Warriors – Indian Premier League 5 – Match recap – Kings XI secure breakthrough 7-wicket win
Struggling near the bottom of the tournament points table, the Kings XI Punjab finally managed to secure their first Indian Premier League 2012 victory against the Pune Warriors, defeating them by seven wickets at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in
Mohali, Chandigarh, on April 12.
Adam Gilchrist’s men won the toss, and chose to field. The Warriors opened their innings with Kiwi batsman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sourav-Chandidas-Ganguly-c90746, but the opening partnership was fleeting, with Ryder run out in the 3rd over on 7. Ganguly looked
to be going strong, having scored 16 off 9 deliveries, but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mascarenhas-c912, the key Kings XI bowler for the night, commenced his deadly assault in the 6th over, claiming the Warriors’ skipper as his first victim.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/AD-Mathews-c913 (11) to the crease.
A 22-run stand ended with the dismissal of Mathews in the 9th over, after which Uthappa and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mithun-Manhas-c76414 (who top-scored for his side with 31) formed the Warriors’ highest partnership – a 26-run stand, which got the team up to 77 by the 13th
over after which the wicketkeeper batsman was swept off the crease by Mascarenhas.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Piyush-c82317 Chawla had him clean bowled in the 16th over, leaving the Warriors faltering at 99 for 6.
The tail-enders did not manage to rally themselves in time to provide the flagging team some momentum – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Warriors-c861’ ended on 115 in the last over.
Mascarenhas played a major role in keeping the opposing batsmen unsettled, and cutting them off before they could post a more challenging total on the board. His 5 for 25 in 4 overs (the 34-year-old’s second 5-wicket haul in T20 cricket) was the highlight
of the Kings XI bowling attack, while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harmeet-Singh-c1533 (3-0-23-2) and Chawla (4-0-23-1) also chipped in with useful contributions.
With a 116 chase in view, the Kings XI innings appeared to have gotten off to a bad start as opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Paul-Valthaty-c2170 was dismissed for duck on the very first delivery, by Dinda. However, the remainder of the batting order rallied immediately, and the home team
found themselves reaching 116 comfortably by the 18th over, at the expense of a mere 3 wickets.
The match-winning partnership was established by Gilchrist (21) and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/SE-Marsh-c2470 (top-scorer of the match, with an unbeaten 64 off 54), which yielded 50 runs. Following the wicketkeeper captain’s dismissal at the hands of Mathews in the 8th over,
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mandeep-Singh-c74122 stepped up to the crease. Despite having managed scores such as 40 and 34 in the tournament so far, he could only muster a 10 before Sharma sent him packing in the 12th over, with the Kings XI at 70 for 3.
The hosts received an extra burst near the end with the innings of Chawla, who aided Marsh in the chase with a contribution of 21 runs, getting their side up to 116 with 14 balls remaining.
Predictably, Mascarenhas was awarded Player of the Match, and his efforts, combined with the batting prowess of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Punjab-c833 to secure their first season win.
Their next match is scheduled to take place against the Kolkata Knight Riders on April 15, while the Pune Warriors will be taking on the Chennai Super Kings on April 14 at the Subrata http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Andrew-Symonds-c44611 Sahara Stadium in Pune .
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