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The Kings XI Punjab notched up their first win in this year's IPL by beating the in form Pune Warriors India at Mohali by a comprehensive 7 wicket margin on Thursday night. The Pune Warriors were totally out of sorts on the night as they crumbled to 115 all out after being put into bat on a wicket that had a bit of moisture in it. Only Mithun Manhas (31) made a score of note in the innings. Dmitri Mascarenhas was the pick of the Punjab bowlers, picking up a rare 5-fer. The Warriors didn't defend the total all that well either as they grassed a couple of chances that came their way and were undone in the end by a sensible innings from Shaun Marsh (64*), who saw the Kings XI through to this important win on the night.

Match 14 of the Indian Premier League, the return leg of the tie between the Kings XI Punjab and the Pune Warriors India took place at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Thursday night with both teams keen to push on going into the second week of the tournament. The Kings XI skipper Adam Gilchrist won the toss and chose to bowl on a wicket that seemed a touch moist. Kings XI brought the fit again Shaun Marsh into the line-up at the expense of fellow Aussie James Faulkner and also opted for the medium pace of Parvinder Awana for this game in place of the out of form Abhishek Nayar. Pune too made a couple of changes by bringing in the Sri Lankan all rounder Angelo Mathews for Callum Fergusson and surprisingly leaving out Murali Kartik for the extra batsman in Mithun Manhas.

The Pune Warriors, having been put in to bat got off to a poor start. Although skipper Sourav Ganguly started brightly by taking on the new ball pair of Praveen Kumar and Parvinder Awana, he was involved in a big mix up in the 3rd over that sent back Jesse Ryder for 7 after misjudging a single. Ganguly played a cameo, 16 off 9 before he departed to the seam bowling of Dimitri Mascarenhas on this green wicket, edging one to point. Marlon Samuels, who was totally out of sorts for his 2 off 12 balls finally departed in the same over, cleaned up by a seaming delivery from Mascarenhas. The pair of Robin Uthappa and Angelo Mathews came together at 29/3 and added 22 off 17 balls to steady the rocking ship a bit before Mathews fell lbw to Harmeet Singh in his first over. At the end of 12 overs, Pune were 77/4 having steadied the ship thanks to another promising stand from new inclusion Mithun Manhas and Uthappa.

The Kings XI struck a body blow when Mascarenhas, who was having a field day, removed the dangerous Robin Uthappa for 17, beating him with a change of pace. The Aussie Steve Smith (13) then looked like resurrecting things with a 22 run stand with the well set Mithun Manhas but just as he was getting into his stride, he dragged one on from Piyush Chawla to start off what was to be an inexplicable slide. Manish Pandey(0) lobbed a straight forward catch to cover soon after and the Pune tail could only muster 15 runs for the loss of 3 wickets to end on a shabby 115 all out in just 19 overs, even unable to bat out their quota of 20 overs despite playing 8 batsmen.

The Kings XI Punjab had the worst start possible in their chase as opener Paul Valthaty was bowled by Ashok Dinda off the first ball of the innings. That only turned out to be a mild aberration though as Adam Gilchrist and No.3 Shaun Marsh went about setting things right.

Gilly showed glimpses of the old days by smacking a few straight over the bowler's head while Shaun Marsh finally found that touch that he seemed to have totally lost. The duo put on 50 for the 2nd wicket at a run a ball before Gilly (21) smashed one from Angelo Mathews straight to point where Steve Smith held on to a fine catch.

Shaun Marsh though was determined to see this through and played some lovely drives in his innings of 64* off 54 balls. Despite losing young Mandeep Singh (10) to Rahul Sharma in the 12th over, Marsh kept the runs coming and that was enough for the Kings XI. Piyush Chawla was promoted to No.4 when victory was in sight and he played a streaky yet handy innings of 21* to add 46 unbeaten runs with Marsh and in the process see the team home. Pune also didn't do their slender chances much good by dropping a few catches in tight situations to let the Kings XI off the hook.

With that rather authoritative victory over favourites Pune, Kings XI have finally got off the mark in this year's competition. They will look to build on this win when they face the Kolkata Knight Riders away at the Eden Gardens on Sunday while the Pune Warriors will hope that today's horror show is just a blip and will look to set things right on Saturday when they face the defending champions Chennai Super Kings.

Teams

Pune: J Ryder, S Ganguly, M Manhas, M Samuels, R Uthappa, S Smith, A Mathews, M Pandey, A Nehra, A Dinda, R Sharma

Punjab: A Gilchrist, P Valthaty, D Hussey, S Marsh, M Singh, D Mascarenhas, P Awana, B Sharma, P Chawla, Harmeet Singh, P Kumar

Mini Scorecard

Pune Warriors 115 all out (19 overs, 6.05 runs per over)
M Manhas 31 (28) D Mascarenhas 5/25
R Uthappa 17 (16) H Singh 2/23

Kings XI Punjab 116/3 (17.4 overs, 6.56 runs per over)
S Marsh 64*(54) R Sharma 1/17
A Gilchrist 21(17) A Dinda 1/18

Punjab win by 7 wickets with 20 balls to spare

File Photograph