Murali Vijay 53 off 49

Murali Vijay’s 53 steers Kings XI Punjab win

Murali Vijay 53 off 49
Murali Vijay 53 off 49

Indian Premier League, 10th match: Kings XI Punjab v Rising Pune Supergiants at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali, Apr 17, 2016

Rising Pune Supergiants 152/7 (20/20 ov) F Du Plessis 67 off 53, 8 fours, SPD Smith 38 off 26, 5 fours, KP Pietersen 15 off 15, 2 fours, Mohit Sharma 23-3, Sandeep Sharma 23-2, KJ Abbott 38-1

Kings XI Punjab 153/4 (18.4/20 ov) M Vijay 53 off 49, 5 fours and 2 sixes, M Vohra 51 off 33, 7 fours, GJ Maxwell 32 off 14, 3 fours and 2 sixes, Ankit Sharma 27-1, M Ashwin 36-3

Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets with 8 balls remaining.

Rising Pune Supergaints won the toss and chose to bat first. Dhoni wanted his bowlers and fielders to escape the afternoon heat, but his batsmen suffered from mid 30s temperature. Faf du Pleassis, began brightly but struggled to find a boundary when the fields spread, with Kings XI bowlers making him hit towards the long square boundary on one side of the pitch, having hit six fours off the first 20 balls, he could only hit two more off the last 33 to finish with 67 off 53 balls. Mohit;s slower ball trapped Du Plessis and Steven Smith in the 18th over. Mohit who finished with 3 for 23, exploited bit of grip available on a Mohali pitch troubling well established batsman. Sandeep Sharma was very effective bowling stump-to-stump and getting a bit of movement, usually into the right hander to finish with figure 2 for 23.

 Murali Vijay gave Kings XI early start on their chase, stepping out of his crease to hit Ankit Sharma’s left-arm spin for two fours in the second over. He then repeated with Ishant Sharma in the next over, giving himself room and launching him over extra cover for the first six of the match.

 Supergaints total of 152 did not include any sixes. Vohra hit three successive fours off Ishant in the fifth over. He also hit three successive fours off Perera’s 11th over. The Kings XI openers put on 97 before Vohra fell. Maxwell then quickly steadied the Kings XI chase, taking 10 off successive balls from M Ashwin and repeating the same with R Ashwin in the next over.