Seamers set up win for Kings XI Punjab

Pune Warriors were thwarted by excellent bowling from the Kings XI Punjab as the visitors thrashed the hosts comprehensively by eight wickets. Clearly, Pune Warriors didn’t fancy the pace and bounce of Azhar Mahmood, Harris and Awana as the trio bowled 12 overs between them and took four wickets for 47 runs.

Praveen Kumar was constantly troubling the Pune Warriors’ openers with his outswingers. However, the last delivery of the first over surprised Pandey as the ball zipped through Manish Pandey’s pads on the way to hitting the stumps. Gilchrist did not allow the new batsman Suman to settle down by frequently shuffling his bowlers. Azhar Mahmood was rewarded with the wicket of Suman in his first over as the batsman was caught at mid-off for 6.

There was no constructive partnership as the Pune Warriors’ batsmen didn’t fancy the uneven bounce of the wicket. None of the Warriors batsmen were able clear the fence as Punjab’s seamers didn’t give allow them enough room. They kept things simple and bowled wicket to wicket, which made life difficult for Warriors’ stroke-makers.

Abhishek Nayar played a handy innings for the Warriors as he top-scored with 25 runs, while the second top-scorer was Uthappa with 15 runs. The rest of the batsmen failed to reach the double-figure mark as the Punjab seamers were on top.

The partnership of 25 runs between Nayar and Mitchell Marsh, the last recognized pair, took the Warriors to a total that could have been defended by their bowlers as the wicket was not easy to bat on. Pune Warriors finally posted 99 runs for the loss of 9 wickets, on a track that had something for the pace-bowlers.

Azhar Mahmood was among the wickets as his figures read four wickets for 19 runs, while the rest of the bowlers settled for one apiece.

Kings XI Punjab had a brilliant day in the field as they inflicted couple of run-outs and saved many boundaries with brilliant dives.

Kings XI Punjab had an easy task on hand as they had to chase only 100 runs at five runs per over. With Gilchrist opening the innings, many would have hoped for an early finish.

Gilchrist started the chase with couple of blistering boundaries and a six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s first over. Subsequently, he was dismissed for 15 by Mathews in the third over. However, his dismissal did not matter much as the debutant Vohra and Mandeep Singh put on a constructive partnership of 58 runs, before Mandeep Singh was bowled by Rahul Sharma for 31.

The wicket of Mandeep Singh came too late for the Warriors as the visitors required just 20 runs for victory at the time of his dismissal. David Hussey joined Vohra as the duo finished the game in style for the Kings XI Punjab.

Kings XI Punjab play their next game against the Super Kings on April 10, while the Pune Warriors play their next game against Rajasthan Royals on April 11.