Kings X1 beat Knight Riders by 9 runs
Mohali, May 3::A world record sixth wicket stand of 104 between David Hussey and Wriddhiman Shah went in vain as Kings XI Punjab romped home to their fourth win on the trot by handing a nine-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders in a thrilling Indian Premier League match here tonight.
The match before a packed PCA Stadium went down the wire even after Irfan Pathan and S Sreesanth wrecked the Knight Riders' top order only to see Hussey and Shah producing a sensational 104 off 55 balls -- a world record in Twenty20 cricket.
The duo resurrected the Knight Riders innings from a hopeless 50 for 5 at the end of 10 overs, and raised hopes of an improbable victory.
Hussey, who was out in the penultimate over, made a blistering 71 off 46 balls with the help of four fours and four sixes while Saha's unbeaten 59 of 32-ball included four sixes.
Requiring 19 in the final over, Saha and Ajit Agarkar could take just nine off Pathan, who bowled brilliantly throughout the innings and finished with figures of 4 0-18-2 to win the man of the match award.
The other successful Kings XI bowler, Sreesanth, returned with two wickets for 25.
Chasing 179 for a win after Kings XI Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh won the toss and elected to bat first, Sourav Ganguly began the procession caught by Pathan near the third man boundary off Sreesanth for five in the third over followed by Pakistani Mohd. Hafeez (13) who perished in the next over to an irresponsible shot off Pathan.
Five balls later, Australian Brad Hodge failed to read a Pathan delivery which nipped back after landing around off stump and was plumbed LBW for one after facing three balls.
Debabrata Das was the next Kolkata batsman to go for five after holing out to Yuvraj off Sreesanth and the visitors were 29 for four by the end of fifth over.
There was a short lull till VRV Singh knocked off Lakshmi Ratan Shukla's (7) middle stump in the 10th over and by then Ganguly's side was looking down the barrel with asking rate having shot up to nearly 13 before Hussey and Shah's futile late charge.
Earlier, Kings XI Punjab scored a challenging 178 for six, riding mainly on Shaun Marsh's 40 and Piyush Chawla's (21) not out) late flourish.
Marsh, who played a match-winning knock of 85 in his side's previous game, carried his form and provided the platform for the lower order flourish towards the close.
Opener James Hopes (18), captain Yuvraj Singh (17) and Mahela Jayawardene (10) got the starts but did not contribute much to the team total while Kumar Sangakkara, who retired hurt in sixth over only to come back later, made a useful 28.
But, it was youngsters, Irfan Pathan (24 not out) and Piyush Chawla who took the home team past 175.
While Pathan accumulated runs mainly on ones and twos, Chawla was looking out for big hits and he took away 21 runs from the last over off Ishant Sharma, hitting three fours and a last ball six and carried reach 178.
The first 10 overs produced only 85 and by the 15th over it was just 119 but Pathan and Chawla ensure that the total crossed 175.
For the Kolkata side, Umar Gul was the most successful bowler claiming two wickets giving away 27 runs while Ishant Sharma finished with figures of 4-0-41-0.
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