Marsh shines for Mohali again

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Facing each other after exactly a week, the Kings XI Punjab toppled the Bangalore Royal Challengers yet again.

In Match 34 of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) played at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium at Mohali, the hosts led by Yuvraj Singh beat the beleaguered Bangalore side by 9 wickets thanks to another magnificent batting display by Australian Shaun Marsh.

Exactly a week ago at the opponent’s home ground, the Mohali franchise had beaten Rahul Dravid’s boys by 6 wickets. This time around, it was no different either.

Chasing 144 for victory, the Punjab team got off to a good start thanks to Shaun Marsh and James Hopes. The latter departed with the score on 42 and was replaced by IPL debutant and fellow Australian Luke Pomersbach.

While Marsh was smashing the Bangalore bowling to all corners of the park, Pomersbach kept him good company at the other end and notched up a decent 34 from 24 balls. But the star of the day was undoubtedly the talented Marsh. His 74 off 51 balls took the Mohali side home with more than 4 overs to spare and for the loss of a single wicket in Hopes.

Earlier in the day, Rahul Dravid had won the toss on behalf of the Bangalore Royal Challengers and elected to bat first.

Wickets fell at regular intervals as the Bangalore batsmen were deceived by the guile of Mohali bowlers S Sreesanth (3-29), Irfan Pathan (1-23), VRV Singh (1-15) and Piyush Chawla (2-33).

Mark Boucher (39) and the Royal Challengers’ captain, Rahul Dravid (29) were the top scorers for their side as wickets kept tumbling once every few overs which disallowed the Bangalore batsmen to gather any momentum.

Bangalore’s seventh loss in the IPL’s Twenty20 extravaganza does nothing to better its position at the bottom of the IPL points table. Punjab sits at a pretty second place on the same table with six wins to its credit. Both teams have now played 9 games each.

Shaun Marsh was obviously named Player of the Match for his brilliant innings that steered Mohali to victory without a hiccup.

The next match of the DLF Indian Premier League will witness the Kolkata Knight Riders clash against the Delhi Daredevils at the majestic Eden Gardens, Kolkata.