Kings XI Punjab 195 for 7 (Marsh 71, Valthaty 46, Tait 3-22) beat Rajasthan Royals 147 for 7 (Praveen 2-22, Bhatt 2-20) by 48 runs Shaun Marsh hit a scintillating 71-run knock to power Kings XI Punjab to an imposing 195 for seven against Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League clash on Thursday.
Marsh anchored the Punjab innings after the openers -- skipper Adam Gilchrist (28 off 16) and Paul Valthaty (46 off 31) -- provided a flying start by plundering 67 runs in just 4.2 overs.
Marsh was supported well by Dinesh Karthik as the two raised 70 runs for the third wicket but the Australian left-hander could not provide the finishing touches as the hosts fell short of 200-run mark.
Yet it was the highest total so far in the fourth edition of the Twenty20 tournament.
Marsh''s blazing innings came off just 42 balls and was adorned with six fours and three sixes -- all three coming off in a single over bowled by Shane Warne.
The hosts were cruising towards a 200-plus score at one stage as they were 169 for two in 15 overs but Rajasthan bowlers made a good comeback in the last five overs as they gave away just 26 runs and took five wickets.
Australian pace duo of Shuan Tait (3/23) and Shane Watson (2/24) shared five wickets between them and bowled four of the last five overs.
At the start, both Gilchrst and Valthaty were out off no balls in the first and second over respectively and Rajasthan paid a very heavy price for the two mistakes as the hosts went on to rattle up the fastest team-fifty and team-hundred.
In three overs, Punjab had 52 runs on the board with Gilchrist and Valtahty hammering Siddharth Trivedi and Tait all around the park.
Punjab skipper was the first to get reprieve as he was bowled off a no ball in the first over off Trivedi, who over-stepped. Then in the second over Tait had Valthaty caught at third slip but on a back foot no-ball.
That proved very costly as Valthaty smashed Trivedi for three fours and two sixes in the next over.
A bamboozled Shane Warne introduced himself in the attack but Gilchrist hardly gave any respect to his former Australian teammate as he smashed the leg-spinner for a six
over mid-wicket and scored a four in the next ball.
Shane Watson finally provided the visitors a breakthrough by dismissing Gilchrist but Marsh and Valthaty continued to punish the rival bowlers as Punjab raised the fastest team-hundred -- in just 9.2 overs.
The hundred came with Valthaty lofting Warne for a huge six on a short ball but the leg-spinner retaliated by having the danger-man caught at long-off on a miscued shot.
Marsh too was in awesome touch and hit some classy boundaries and one such shot was a cover-drive off spinner Abhishek Raut. Marsh then hit Warne for three sixes in the 14th over and raised his fifty in the process.
Karthik added salt to the woes of Rajasthan by hitting three consecutive boundaries off Trivedi in the next over.
However, three quick wickets stopped the rot as Shaun Tait dismissed Karthik, Abhishek Nayar (1) was run out and Marsh got out while attempting another big shot.
Presentation
Shane Warne: "Not the ideal starts. two no-balls could have been two wickets. After that we lost our way. Adam and Paul played really. We pulled them back a bit, but we got off to an ordinary start ourselves. Trying to stay calm [when the no-balls happened], but it's not easy. Something you can't do in Twenty20 cricket. We got outplayed, we didn't do a lot of basic stuff well."
Adam Gilchrist: "Three in a row after a poor start. Been a bit of a stop-start tournament, seems like the tournament is just beginning. Fine line, but 2 for 5 is a fair distance from being 0 for 40. Paul backed himself, and Shaun was brilliant. Not too bad [personal form]. It's all helter skelter, don't know much about form in this form of the game."
Shaun Marsh is the Man of the Match : "Nice, we had a great win. All the boys played well, and good feeling at the moment. First time I have got a few off him [Warne], usually he gets me out pretty early. I do enjoy playing here, great place to play cricket. Having a lot of fun at the moment."
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