Wriddhiman Saha's entertaining knock at the top of the order helped Kings XI Punjab post 106 for six against Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPl match that was reduced to 10 overs a side due to rain.
At the time of going to press, Royal Challengers Bangalore were 49-2 after 5 overs in reply, needing 57 runs.
Make shift opener Saha (31 runs off 12 balls) launched an all-out attack from ball one before quickfire innings from David Miller (14 off 4) and Axar Patel (20* off 15) took Kings XI to a competitive total at the end.
The game, supposed to start at 8 pm, began two hours and 45 minutes late with Royal Challengers putting Kings XI in to bat on a green surface. Saha, replacing Murali Vijay at the top, got the hosts off to a cracking start much to the joy of fans who waited hours for the action to begin.
Saha, opening alongside Manan Vohra, smashed Mitchell Starc for two fours in the opening over of the innings before hammering another left-arm pacer Sreenath Aravind in an over that went for 20 runs.
At 34 for no loss, Kings XI were off to a flier in a rain-shortened contest.
The Bengal batsman was caught at mid on by Mandeep Singh off the first ball bowled by medium pacer David Wiese, but his cameo was enough to give Kings XI a much needed impetus early on.
However, Harshal Patel (2/12) removed Vohra (11) and Glenn Maxwell (10) in in the fifth over to peg back the home side at 54 for three.
The exhilarating pace of the innings was seen all through out with batsmen getting out regularly after hitting some lusty blows. Same was the case for David Miller (14), who departed after smacking leggie Yuzvendra Chahal (2/25) for two consecutive sixes down the ground.
The regular loss of wickets in a 10-over innings eventually did not affect the tempo of the innings as Kings XI set up a challenging target.
SCORECARD
KXIP: 106/6 in 10 overs (W Saha c Mandeep b Wiese 31 (12); Manan Vohra c Mandeep b Patel 11 (6); Glenn Maxwell c de Villiers b Patel 10 (10); David Miller st Karthik b Chahal 14 (4); George Bailey b Chahl 13 (9), Axar Patel not out 20 (15); Gurkeerat Singh c Karthik b Starc 2 (3); R Dhawan not out 1 (1).
RCB: 49/2 in 5 overs (Chris Gayle c Saha b Sandeep 17 (14); Virat Kohli b Anureet 19 (9); AB de Villiers not out 5; Mandeep not out 5).