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Sangakkara comes good

Rakesh Rao

Kings XI Punjab sets a challenging target for Mumbai Indians

— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

SCINTILLATING KNOCK: Kumar Sangakkara of Kings XI Punjab came up with a fine knock against Mumbai Indians on Friday.

MOHALI: Aided by Kumar Sangakkara’s responsible 94, Kings XI Punjab set Mumbai Indians a challenging target of 183 in their battle of redemption in the Indian Premier League at the PCA Stadium here on Friday.

After Mumbai chose to field, Punjab relied heavily on Sangakkara to show the way. The stylish left-hander smashed a six and 13 boundaries during his 56-ball knock.

He shared a 73-run second wicket stand with Karan Goel. Later, Punjab chose to trade wickets for quick runs was eventually bowled out for 182 in 20 overs.

Early pace

Sangakkara set the pace early in the innings. He walked in at the fall of Irfan Pathan in the second over and straightaway got down to business. He liked the pace of Ashish Nehra, Shaun Pollock and Dhaval Kulkarni and smashed boundaries all over the park.

Karan Goel, who ended up with a bleeding lip after failing to negotiate a bouncer from Bravo, delivered an upper-cut to another bouncer that followed for a six over third man.

However, in the next over, Goel was run out at the striker’s end when he responded to a call for a non-existent single.

This dismissal brought crowd-favourite Yuvraj Singh to the middle amidst thundering applause.

For two overs, boundaries dried up but once Pollock was re-introduced in the 11th over, Yuvraj smashed a six to long-on and followed it up with a pulled four.

But Pollock had his revenge off the last ball when Bravo brought off a diving catch at long-off to send back Yuvraj.

This was a huge wicket for Mumbai Indians since Yuvraj was beginning to look dangerous having scored 18 runs off nine deliveries.

Making his debut in the competition, Ramnaresh Sarwan limped off to slow start. That in turn brought down the scoring rate, much to the respite of the visiting team.

To the credit of the Mumbai team, it denied boundaries and that in turn brought Sarwan, in particular, under pressure. The mounting pressure did the damage.

A frustrated Sarwan tried to give Nehra the charge but only managed to offer a straight-forward catch at extra-cover to Harbhajan.

Making up

Now it was once again left to Sangakkara to make up for the lost time. Joined by compatriot Mahela Jayawardene, the stylish left-hander ended a 22-ball no-boundary spell with two hits to the fence and a six when medium pacer Musavir Khote was introduced in the 15th over.

In the next over, Jayawardene’s reverse sweep off Harbhajan failed to clear short third man.

Sunny Sohel, too fell cheaply, before Brett Lee used the long handle well to smash a six and two boundaries in his unbeaten 16.

The scores:

Kings XI Punjab: K. Goel (run out) 18; I. Pathan c Kulkarni b Nehra 6; K. Sangakkara c Kulkarni b Harbhajan 94, Yuvraj c Bravo b Pollock 18, R. Sarwan c Harbhajan b Nehra 7, M. Jayawardene c Nayar b Harbhajan 12, Sunny Sohal c Nehra b Kulkarni 0, B. Lee (not out) 16, P. Chawla lbw b Harbhajan 0, S. Sreesanth c Ronchi b Kulkarni 0, V.R.V. Singh (run out) 4, Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-4, nb-1) 7, Total (in 20 overs) 182.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-81, 3-107, 4-121, 5-152, 6-155, 7-159, 8-169, 9-170.

Mumbai Indians bowling: Pollock 4-0-40-1, Nehra 3-0-22-2, Kulkarni 4-0-37-2, Harbhajan 4-0-32-3, Bravo 3-0-27-0, Khote 2-0-22-0.

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