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Paul Valthaty, who became a star overnight with his 120 against Chennai earlier this week, produced another magnificent performance to give Punjab their second win in as many matches. Valthaty scored 75 off just 47 balls and starred in a 136 run opening stand with Adan Gilchrist, who scored 61 off 46. Valthaty was equally effective with the ball picking up 4 vital wickets with his slow medium pace to restrict the Deccan Chargers to 165. The Chargers were in the game at the end of the first innings but were literally blown away by the Kings XI's opening stand. Both men fell to leggie Amit Mishra, but Punjab sauntered home with 14 balls to spare.

Both Deccan and Punjab began the season poorly, but bounced back strongly, winning comprehensively in their last games. The toss was interesting with the two captains having swapped jerseys from last season. Deccan were looking for their second consecutive win on home soil and weren't too disappointed to be put in to bat by Adam Glichrist, having won here in similar fashion against the Royal Challengers Bangalore last time out.

Punjab surprisingly didn’t bring David Hussey into the side, having just joined the squad from Australia's tour of Bangladesh. Instead, the team brought in medium pace bowler Vikramjeet Malik for Bhargav Bhatt. Deccan Chargers meanwhile went into the game with an unchanged side.

Praveen Kumar, who picked 2 wickets off the first 2 balls against Chennai, had the new ball in his hand first up. The ball was swinging as it often does in Kumar's hands, but Sunny Sohal, chipped a wide first delivery from the Indian seamer to the boundary. Ryan Harris bowled a few dot balls and the pressure got to Sohal who hit one straight to Dinesh Karthik at mid-off. Captain Sangakkara was in pretty early and had his task cut out. Shikhar Dhawan meanwhile was unruffled at the other end and got his first boundary off Harris in the 4^th over. Praveen Kumar appeared to be struggling with his fitness and it showed in his bowling when Sangakkara hit him for 2 boundaries in an over. The ball was swinging no longer and both batsmen started getting runs with few risks taken. With 48 on the board at the end of the powerplay, Deccan would have been overjoyed with their start.

Boundaries dried up as the field spread at the end of the powerplay but Chargers were determined to stay on the front foot. Dhawan pulled Ryan McLaren to add 4 more to his total and the 50 partnership came up off just 38 balls. Dhawan continued to be the more aggressive batsmen as he deposited young Vikramjeet Malik out of the park. The bowlers were made to look ordinary and no further breakthroughs were made till Piyush Chawla came into bowl. Chawla broke the partnership, getting Sangakkara (35 off 28b) to hit the ball straight down the throat of McLaren. Suddenly the pressure was transferred right on to the home side as Paul Valthaty, who scored the super century against Chennai, got another wicket with Dhawan hitting a wide half-volley straight to short fine leg. Dhawan gave away another chance to convert his good start as he scored 46 off 36 balls. With two quick wickets Punjab were back in the game and were looking to get through some quick overs with two new men out in the middle.

The run rate which had climbed over 8, when Sangakkara and Dhawan were batting, was threatening to fall below 7. Deccan reached 100 in the 14^th over as JP Duminy and Bharat Chipli started to rebuild the innings. Valthaty, with his subtle variations, was able to strike once again getting Chipli’s crucial wicket, having been dropped off the previous delivery. Duminy’s ordinary run with the bat continued as he was caught off his own bowling by McLaren for 18. Manpreet Gony was promoted in order to strike a few lusty blows but the move backfired when his middle stump was sent flying on the very first ball he faced.

Daniel Christian though was once again proving his worth, hitting boundaries to lift Deccan closer to 150. Christian muscled a huge six off Valthaty but the bowler had the last laugh picking up his wicket on the following ball dismissing Christian for a terrific 30 off 14 balls. Valthaty picked up his fourth wicket and second in two balls when he trapped Amit Mishra right in front of the stumps. Valthaty finished with incredible figures of 4-29 in his 4 overs and tasted great success with the ball having hit a huge hundred in the last game. Deccan Chargers finished with 165 and would have been happy to defend it given their strong bowling attack.

Dale Steyn’s pace was handled with ease to start the innings as both openers, Gilchrist and Valthaty, hit boundaries in the first over. Runs were coming very quickly and Steyn was distraught as he conceded a free hit in his next over. Valthaty turned on the screws with a six off an upper cut to Ishant Sharma and the confidence continued to surge as he amassed 23 runs in Manpreet Gony's first over, hitting the former India hopeful for 4 fours and a six over wide mid-off. Valthaty was continuing from where he had left off the other day and with the team reaching 50 even before the 5^th over was completed, the pressure was on the Chargers to get a breakthrough. Ishant bowled a good over to end the powerplay but Punjab had already risen to 62 by the end of it.

Gilchrist joined the party hitting a massive six over mid-wicket for someone in the crowd to catch. Both batsmen survived two close appeals in Amit Mishra’s first over and Chargers looked rather dispondent to not have either going their way. Gilchrist kept attacking despite the field spreading out and took on Daniel Christian, scoring 16 from his first over. The required rate which was 8.3 to start with had dropped to 6.3 by the end of the 9^th over. Gilchrist was in the mood of his life and hit a six to bring up his 50 and the 100 of the team in just the 10^th over. With 105 on board by the end of the 10^th over, Punjab were off to a brisk start and had made long strides towards the target with their big hitting. Even Steyn had no answers to the partnership of Gilchrist and Valthaty, who were coasting home at complete ease. Valtahaty finally reached his 50 with a six straight down the ground off Duminy which he brought up in just 35 balls. The game had definitely slipped out of Chargers’ hands with required rate falling below 6 and under 50 runs needed.

Valthaty was in a rush to finish the match hitting Duminy into the crowd once more in the same over. Some words were shared between Mishra and Gilchrist, and the former Aussie keeper perished soon after, scoring 61 off 46 balls, holeing out in the deep. Deccan tried to put some pressure on Abhishek Nayar, the new batsman in, but Valthaty seized the moment with another maximum off Mishra and followed it with a boundary to join Sachin Tendulkar on 201 runs for the tournament. The 27-year old, the find of the tournament thus far, departed for 75 trying to repeat the result once again but Ishant Sharma held on to a brilliant catch to end his innings. Things could have got closer if Duminy would have held onto a tough chance from Dinesh Karthik. Nayar hit two boundaries off consecutive balls to take the scores level and then ran a leg-bye to give Punjab their second win of the tournament.

King XI Punjab move up to 6^th place with today’s win having won 2 out of their 3 games, they are tied on points with all five teams above them in the standings, but are at the bottom of that particular group on net run rate. They will be facing the Rajasthan Royals in Mohali on Thursday the 21^st in their next game and should be a force to reckon with from here on out.

Deccan Chargers meanwhile fall one place to 7^th with just 1 win in 4 games. They needs to pull up their socks if they are to pose a serious threat to the other teams to make it to the play-offs. They will travel to Delhi to face the Daredevils on Tuesday the 19^th, a game both sides will be desperate to win.

Teams:

Deccan Chargers: S Dhawan, S Sohal, KC Sangakkara(c & wk), B Chipli, JP Duminy, DT Christian, DB Ravi Teja, A Mishra, DW Steyn, I Sharma, MS Gony

Kings XI Punjab: AC Gilchrist(c & wk), SE Marsh, KD Karthik, Sunny Singh, AM Nayar, PC Valthaty, R McLaren, P Kumar, RJ Harris, PP Chawla, VS Malik

Mini Scorecard:

Deccan Chargers 165/8 in 20 overs (8.25 runs per over)
S Dhawan 45(36) P Valthaty 4-29
K Sangakkara 35(28) R McLaren 2-33

Kings XI Punjab 166/2 in 17.4 overs (9.39 runs per over)
A Gilchrist 61 (46) A Mishra 2-28
P Valthaty 75 (47)

Kings XI win by 8 wickets

File Photograph Copyright: Michael Henn

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