Hyderabad: Once Kings XI Punjab were powered to 170 by Mandeep Singh's 75, the visitors here on Tuesday left nothing to chance as Deccan Chargers were forced to submit by 25 runs.
Mandeep took the stadium by a steady but continious storm of runs before his work was backed up by Punjab bowlers led by Praveen Kumar and skipper David Hussey.
Deccan were always going to find the going tough but each time the side looked to take the bowling on, Punjab bagged wickets to leave the opposition reeling. This after opener Shikhar Dhawan had already been bowled by Kumar in the second over of the chase.
Parthiv Patel (17 off 13) hit a six and a boundary which hinted at bigger things to come but was bowled by Parvinder Awana in the fifth over. Daniel Harris had 30 off 29 but just when he looked to cut loose, was sent back by Hussey. The following batsmen looked like having 'guest-roles' in the middle.
Cameron White (8 off 14) and Kumar Sangakkara (4 off 6) left with signs that the chase had already been given up on. Some late hitting did entertain the spectators but in cricketing terms, failed to have any impact on the match.
What did have a solid impact was Mandeep's innings earlier on. A relatively quiet Indian Premier League for him exploded in a torrid 48-ball 75.
Mandeep opened the innings with Shaun Marsh and the two built a 55-run stand for the opening wicket. Although the rate of scoring in the opening overs was not phenomenal, the batsmen did manage to find the boundaries in almost every over to keep the innings moving forward.
Shikhar Dhawan was brought into the action and he gave his team the breakthrough in his second over, getting the better of Marsh (22 off 20). Nitin Saini's wicket in the next over threatened to create a crack but Mandeep shifted gears to execute the big-hits with perfection.
Even though he lost his skipper in David Hussey in the 12th over, Mandeep carries on his innings, slapping Amit Mishra for back-to-back boundaries in the 13th over and following it up with 10 runs off three balls in a VP Singh over.
By the time Mandeep left, removed by Ashish Reddy, the foundation for the final onslaught was set. David Miller took full advantage of it and hit boundaries at will to finish the innings.
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