Punjab continues dominant reign

The Kings XI Punjab continued to prove why it is one of the best outfits in the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) by beating the Hyderabad Deccan Chargers by 6 wickets at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. The first time these two sides crossed paths earlier in the tournament, the result was the sam – only then the Mohali franchise secured a victory by 7 wickets.

This time round in Match 48 of the IPL, the home side rode on the backs of half centuries by both their openers to reach their ninth win of the series. Chasing a competitive 175 runs for victory, the Kings XI Punjab got off to a flying start when both their openers started chasing down the target in a hurry. Kumar Sangakkara playing his first match after his injury opened the batting with Shaun Marsh, who has been in consistent form since he joined the team.

Both openers started briskly bringing up the Mohali fifty in just 23 balls, the fastest in the IPL so far. Sangakkara went on to equal his own record of the second-fastest fifty in the tournament which he scored off 23 balls.

With Sangakkara doing the slog hitting, Marsh slowly but surely kept accumulating runs and paced out his innings maturely. However, Sangakkara perished in the eight over with the team score on 84 and in came captain Yuvraj Singh (17), who took his time, played a small cameo and departed. Marsh reached his half century and went on to add another 10 more runs to that before he followed his captain back to the dugout.

The only other temporary setback was that of Luke Pomersbach (13). But even though the required rate climbed to 10 runs per over in the final few overs, Mahela Jayawardena (14 off 10) and Piyush Chawla (16 of 9) took their side home with 3 balls to spare.

Earlier in the day, Yuvraj Singh won the toss on behalf of the Kings XI Punjab and decided to field. The Hyderabad Deccan Chargers started brilliantly with a good 79-run opening stand between captain Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs. Gilchrist went on to score a 50 and Gibbs missed that milestone by 6 runs when he was clean bowled on 46.

An excellent knock by Rohit Sharma (50 off 27 balls) and some lusty hitting by Chamara Silva (23 off 10) at the death saw Hyderabad reach a commanding total of 175/4.

This total obviously wasn’t difficult for the Kings XI Punjab as the unit has proved yet again that be it defending or chasing, the Mohali side is one of the strongest teams to beat in the competition.

Punjab’s win takes them to the top of the IPL table with tournament leaders, the Rajasthan Royals who have played one match less than the Mohali franchise.

The Deccan Chargers continue to sit at the bottom of the IPL table with just 2 wins from 12 matches.

The next IPL match is scheduled to take place between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chennai on May 24.