Kings XI snatch exciting win from Chennai Super Kings

Chennai: The Kings XI Punjab came back from a seemingly hopeless position to score a thrilling victory against the Chennai Super Kings here late Sunday, the final result coming in the Super Over after the teams had tied the scores.

Asked to bat first, the Kings XI made 136 for eight in 20 overs and in reply the Super Kings collapsed from 65 for no loss to tie the scores with one delivery left.

Ravichandran Ashwin was then caught off the last ball with Super Kings on 136 for seven.

In the Super Over, the hosts opened with Albie Morkel and Hayden with Suresh Raina nominated as the third batsman and Muralitharan as their bowler. Kings XI named Mahela Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan as their batsmen with seamer Juan Theron to bowl.

Morkel took a single off the first and Hayden was bowled off the second. Raina ran two off the third delivery and then slammed a massive six off the fourth before being bowled next ball.

It left Kings XI 10 runs to win.

Jayawardene smashed the first ball for a six and was caught off the next in the deep by Murali Vijay.

Yuvraj, who had crossed over, missed a sweep before reverse hitting the fourth delivery to the fence to complete the win.

It was their first win in four matches for the Kings XI while the Super Kings suffered their second defeat in four outings.

Earlier, off-spinner Muralitharan's haul of three for 16 underlined his prowess that left all the Kings XI batsmen clueless as the visitors failed to build on a bright start that opener Irfan Pathan 39 (32b, 1x6, 5x4) provided.

The middle-order, including experienced Sri Lankan stars Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene, fell apart while Yuvraj Singh (43, 28b, 2x6, 4x4) played a lone hand in the latter half of the innings.

The spotlight was on Muralitharan who bamboozled the Kings XI batsmen, few of whom had any clue to the wiles of the offie, as he dismissed Sangakkara, Jayawardene and Mohd Kaif even as the Super Kings fielders came up with two run outs and a couple of top catches.

The Super Kings were off to a rollicking start with Hayden (33) and Parthiv Patel putting on 65 runs for the first wicket before the Kings XI surged back into contention.

Four wickets fell in a heap as the Super Kings batsmen struggled to come to terms with a rather slowish pitch.

Patel's departure in the 18th over opened the doors for the Kings XI who eventually forced a tie before emerging worthy winners.
Source: IANS