Prior to the Sunday’s match, calls were being made to batsmen from both the sides — Kings XI Punjab and Pune Warriors India — to raise their game. And they did.
Warriors changed their regular skipper and handed over the command to Aaron Finch, who led from the front but it was Punjab who had the last laugh as the host overhauled a 186-run target with a ball to spare in a nail-biting encounter at the PCA stadium here.
While chasing, KXIP lost two key wickets within first seven balls — Adam Gilchrist edged Bhuvneshwar Kumar to wicketkeeper and Azhar Mahmood was trapped in front of the wicket by Ajantha Mendis.
Two youngsters — Mandeep Singh and Manan Vohra showed their talent and stabilised the innings at a good pace, taking the score to 58 before Vohra (20) was bowled by Yuvraj Singh.
Mandeep (77 of 58), displayed maturity and shepherded the innings till the end. During the field restriction, he was aggressive and after that he mixed aggression with caution and completed his half-century in 39 balls. His new partner David Miller (80 of 41 balls) showed a lot of urgency and turned the heat on the opposition, clobbering bowlers to all over the park to make a fifty off 29 balls. He cut, pulled, slashed, punched to bring the host back into the match.
Needing 16 runs off the final over, luke Wright conceded a run each in his first couple balls before Miller milked two sixes and a couple in the next three deliveries to take KXIP past the target.
Earlier, Finch and Uthappa provided Pune a perfect start scoring 48 runs of first six overs. Uthappa set the ball rolling by slashing a Praveen Kumar ball hard towards the cover point region before Finch was given a reprieve by wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist on the second ball of the second over. Finch, who was batting on one, made the most of the chance and started the onslaught in the same over.
Australians are known for playing the pull shot well and Finch used it to a good effect twice in the next couple of overs against Parwinder Awana and Mahmood. Uthappa took a leaf out of his partner's book and played the short balls handsomely before being dismissed for an individual score of 37 runs.
But, Finch continued his good show and completed his fifty in just 32 balls with a six over mid-wicket off Manpreet Gony. Finch contributed 65 runs with the help of eight boundaries and two over it in 42 balls before being caught at sweeper cover.
Yuvraj Singh looked in good touch. He hit Piyush Chawala for two fours and a six before muscling Awana for two sixes in one over. He was just beginning to look dangerous for Punjab bowlers when lost his wicket for 34 runs which came in 24 balls.
Next man in Englishman luke Wright, playing his first game of this season, blasted six fours and one six to make a quick-fire 34 of just 10 balls to provide big thrust to Pune's innings towards the end to help his team register their highest total of 185/4 against KXIP in the IPl.
Brief Scores
PWI: 185/4 in 20 overs (Finch 65, Yuvraj 34, Wright 34; Mahmood 2/42) lost to KXIP: 186/3 in 19.5 overs (Miller 80 no, Mandeep 77 no; Bhuvneshwar 1/31) by 7 wickets.