Ken Borland

David Hussey and Praveen Kumar proved their worth as bowlers in the shortest version of the game as they led the Punjab Kings XI to a 25-run victory over the Deccan Chargers in their Indian Premier League match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120508/Hussey_Praveen_prove_their_worth

Praveen takes swing bowling to new artistic levels and was rewarded with outstanding figures of 2-15 in four overs as the Chargers, chasing 171 for victory, struggled to 145 for eight.

Hussey, who has proven himself an independent thinker as captain standing in for the injured Adam Gilchrist, brought himself on to bowl the 11th over and changed the course of the match as he removed fellow Australians Daniel Harris (30) and powerful hitter Cameron White (8) and conceded just two runs in his only over.

Praveen made a top-class start with the new ball, conceding just six runs in two overs and claiming a vital wicket in Shikhar Dhawan (8), who edged a ball that nipped away to a wide slip.

Parthiv Patel came in and hit a four and a six off Parvinder Awana, but then picked the wrong ball to swish to leg and was bowled for 17.

Harris showed better selection in his 30 off 29 balls, notching two fours and a six, but he then failed to read off-spinner Hussey and sliced a delivery that went straight on to backward point.

White, whose recent form has given him prominent space in the newspapers, then heaved Hussey to cow corner, where another Aussie, Shaun Marsh, had plenty of time to contemplate the steepler before taking the catch.

Unfortunate Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara (4) will be sorry he has such tremendous skill as he then managed to get an edge to an outrageous delivery from Praveen that would have beaten most batsmen all ends up. It swung sharply across the left-hander, hitting the bat near the shoulder and wicketkeeper Nitin Saini clung on to a great catch high to his left.

The Chargers were 75 for five after 12 overs and the Kings XI had no pity for Deccan as they limited them to 70 runs in the last eight overs and claimed three more wickets.

The lower-order was ill-equipped to tackle a required run-rate of 12 an over, unless the Kings XI suffered an extraodinary implosion in the field.

But the Punjab bowlers remained impressive till the end and the visitors were slick in the field as well. The Chargers were grateful for some late defiance from Akshath Reddy (24) and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (19) otherwise they probably would have suffered the ignominy of being bowled out inside 20 overs.

The Kings XI moved up to fifth in the IPL log and stated their playoff ambitions in no uncertain terms, with Awana (4-0-27-2) and the canny Azhar Mahmood (4-0-31-0) the other bowlers to shine.

BOLD INNINGS

Young Mandeep Singh had earlier come to the fore as he steered the Punjab Kings XI to 170 for five.

Newspapers the length of India will be raving about the 20-year-old Mandeep, who played a great hand on a tricky pitch, scoring 75 off 48 balls, with eight fours and three sixes.

Mandeep, one of the new wave of young Indian batsmen waiting to succeed the great current generation, was ruthless against anything a touch short and also played some beautiful drives as he gave the Kings XI a fine start after they were sent in to bat.

With Marsh scoring 22, Punjab had reached 86 for two at the halfway mark and lost their way a bit in the second half of their innings.

Part-time off-spinner Dhawan sent Marsh on his way in the seventh over as the Australian left-hander didn’t read the arm-ball, and one could only pity Saini (2), who received a poor lbw decision from umpire Kumar Dharmasena as he missed a googly from paceman Ashish Reddy.

Ashish bowls his slower ball out of the back of the hand, but unfortunately tends to overdo the delivery and was expensive as a result, conceding 39 runs in his four overs.

Captain Hussey scored a handy 16 before he gave a catch to long-off from the bowling of Veer Pratap Singh, but Mandeep continued with his adventurous, bold innings until the 16th over, when he got a bit excited lining up Ashish, missed a slower ball and was bowled.

As the end of innings neared, South Africans David Miller and Rusty Theron took centre stage.

Pietermaritzburg-raised Miller hit the ball high and handsome as he finished the innings with 28 not out off 18 balls, allowing Punjab to at least set Deccan a stiff target.

The batsmen had an uphill task scoring runs against Theron at the death, however, as the seamer kept them guessing with his array of variations accurately delivered.

Theron’s last two overs cost just 12 runs, leaving him with final figures of 4-0-29-0.

The loss of the dangerous Azhar, who had gone untroubled to 14 off nine balls, was another reason why Punjab missed out somewhat in the closing overs. The Pakistan all-rounder was run out after slick work by Ashish and bowler Theron, but the Chargers’ fielding was once again generally poor and something they desperately need to work on.

Off-spinner Jhunjhunwala (2-0-12-0) bowled tidily up front, but the Chargers were put on the back foot almost immediately as Veer conceded 18 runs in the second over.

Medium-pacer Harris also bowled a tight line in conceding just 15 runs in his two overs in the second half of the innings.

Robin Peterson and Ambati Rayudu saw the Mumbai Indians home as they snatched a thrilling four-wicket victory over the Kings XI at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali on Wednesday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120425/Peterson_Rayudu_see_Mumbai_home

The South African came to the crease with Mumbai needing 34 runs off just 14 balls and Peterson plundered 16 not out off seven balls, with two fours and a six off successive deliveries.

Questions will be asked as to Peterson’s treatment by captain Harbhajan Singh, who bowled him for just one over, while he conceded 29 runs in three overs, and then batted before the left-hander but made a two-ball duck.

Rayudu blasted 34 not out off 17 balls, with a pair of fours and sixes, and hit the winning boundary as Mumbai won with a ball to spare.

The visitors needed 32 off the last two overs and Punjab will be ruing leg-spinner Piyush Chawla’s penultimate over of the innings, which cost an astonishing 27 runs.

Peterson, a clever cricketer who will always find a way to score, used a reverse-sweep and a switch-hit to hit the first two balls for four and then launched a slog-sweep for six.

Rayudu then hit the last two balls of the over for six, leaving Mumbai with just five runs to get off Azhar Mahmood’s final over and they did it in singles before the 26-year-old Indian prospect finished the match with a crunching cover drive.

The Kings XI probably thought they had the game in the bag after Mahmood and seamer Parvinder Awana had reduced Mumbai, chasing 169, to 135 for six in the 18th over.

Mumbai will be concerned that they collapsed after a good start, James Franklin (22) and Sachin Tendulkar (34) putting on 52 for the first wicket, before Rohit Sharma added a quickfire 50 off just 30 balls, with three sixes.

But the introduction of Pakistani paceman Mahmood brought a flurry of quick wickets as he had both openers caught behind by Nitin Saini.

The next over saw Chawla claim his one wicket as Dinesh Karthik (3) picked out Mahmood at short fine leg with a scoop shot.

Awana claimed the key wicket of Kieron Pollard for just three when the elevation of the West Indian’s flick over midwicket was just not enough and he was caught by Mandeep Singh.

Rohit then obviously became the key man as he played probably his best innings of the tournament before he slashed the nagging medium-pace of Awana to the sharp Mahmood at backward point.

The wicket of Harbhajan fell two balls later, but the skills of Peterson and Rayudu were enough to complete the victory.

The experienced Mahmood, who finished with two for 23, and Praveen Kumar, who conceded just 25 runs in his four overs, were the best of the Punjab bowlers.

David Hussey had earlier put his younger teammates to shame as he almost single-handedly steered the Kings XI to 168 for three.

Captain Hussey, the younger brother of Australian star Michael, slammed 68 not out off 40 balls to lift the home team to a competitive total on a pitch that was tough to score on when the ball got soft or the pace was taken off.

The 34-year-old made twice as many runs as any of his teammates, with South African David Miller’s 34 not out being the next highest score.

The multi-faceted Mumbai attack – seven bowlers were used – was initially pretty effective in stifling the run-rate and left-armer RP Singh was excellent up front, taking one for 27 in four overs.

Run-scoring was a little easier against the new ball and openers Saini and Mandeep put on 35 in the first five overs before Mandeep was caught behind off Singh for 22.

With Saini leaving the crease for 17 two overs later, his skied hook shot off paceman Clint McKay going to fine leg, the two Australians and Punjab’s most experienced batsmen – Shaun Marsh and Hussey – were brought together.

Marsh struggled to 17 off 26 balls before medium-pacer Franklin had him caught in an outstanding 13th over that cost just five runs, but Hussey batted through to the close.

Generally playing with a straight bat, Hussey punched his way to four fours and four sixes and was a cut above the other Kings XI batsmen.

But Miller served up a blistering cameo in the closing overs, lashing his 34 not out off just 17 balls, with two of his sixes coming off the last two balls of the innings, bowled by Munaf Patel, who the left-hander had also hit for six in his previous over.

Munaf had bowled his first two overs for just nine runs, including a maiden, but fell apart at the death as Hussey and Miller plundered 32 runs off his last 12 deliveries.

It said little for Harbhajan’s captaincy that spinner Peterson, who bowled the first over of the innings and conceded just three runs, was not used again, with the captain coming in for punishment as his three overs cost 29 runs.

Franklin also just bowled the single over.