Kings XI Punjab stun Mumbai Indians by 3 runs

BY: iplkarmayudh.com
Kings XI Punjab beat Mumbai Indians by 3 runs to win the 20th match of the second edition of the Indian Premier League at Kingsmead.

Barring Sangakkara, none of the Kings XI Punjab batsmen could make their presence felt. Sangakkara waged a grim battle with a 44-ball 45 on a day when only three of his teammates returned double digit scores.Yuvraj Singh’s decision to bat first backfired and by the first strategy break, the Punjab side crawled to 50 in 10 overs with three top order batsmen, including the skipper himself, cooling their heels in the hut.

Openers Karan Goel (12) and Ravi Bopara (6) just could not get going and the first three overs yielded only 10 runs.The subdued start would have pleased any rival captain but not Sachin Tendulkar who tossed the ball to Harbhajan Singh in the fourth over and the offie struck with his third delivery.Goel, having slog-swept the spinner for a six in the previous delivery, stepped out to court peril and return stumped after completely misreading the line.Dwayne Bravo followed in Harbhajan’s footsteps and struck in his first over, removing Bopara.

A lot was expected of Yuvraj (10) but the left-hander let down once again, leaving his team in dire straits.Tendulkar pressed Sanath Jayasuriya into service and the wily Sri Lankan responded by removing Mahela Jayawardene (7).To make it worse Irfan Pathan’s (7) was a brief stay, cut short by Zaheer Khan, and Lasith Malinga then castled Wilkin Mota and Piyush Chawla off successive balls to dash hopes of Punjab’s rearguard defiance.

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