Champions League: No Hurricane effect on Punjab

September 18, 2014 08:13 pm | Updated September 19, 2014 02:17 am IST - Mohali

Kings XI Punjab's Thisara Perera came up with a quickfire, unbeaten 35 off20 balls, after having picked up two wickets earlier, to take his team to victory against Hobart Hurricanes. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

Kings XI Punjab's Thisara Perera came up with a quickfire, unbeaten 35 off20 balls, after having picked up two wickets earlier, to take his team to victory against Hobart Hurricanes. Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

KIrrespective of the number of speed-breakers it faces, Kings XI Punjab seems to have mastered the art of covering the distance without changing gears.

The host illustrated its adeptness once again when it overhauled the target of 145 set by Hobart Hurricanes.

Notwithstanding the first-ball dismissal of Virender Sehwag and David Miller failing to score, Kings XI kept the chase alive and finished the job with five wickets and 14 deliveries to spare.

The result also marked Kings XI’s triumphant debut in the Champions League at the expense of another first-timer in the competition.

It was a day when Kings XI’s bowlers raised the bar but the batsmen did not quite do justice to their reputation. Since the target was far from intimidating, the host crossed the finish-line after facing some anxious moments until Glenn Maxwell made his presence felt.

The sparsely-filled PCA Stadium witnessed a counter-attack from Maxwell who provided the brightest part of the innings, though it was the unfinished 69–run partnership, off 41 deliveries between skipper George Bailey and Thisara Perera, that firmly dashed Hurricanes’ hopes.

In fact, Bailey struck two successive boundaries to signal the end of the chase against his team in the Big Bash League.

Walking in at 23 for three in the fourth over, Maxwell straightaway raced away to a 25-ball 43 comprising two sixes and four boundaries. When Maxwell was around, Kings XI added 54 runs with the Aussie doing most of the scoring.

But the Man-of-the-match was Perera whose 20-ball unbeaten 35, following his two wickets for 17, truly made him the performer of the day.

Sub-par total

Earlier, after Kings XI chose to field, the Hurricanes batsmen could only manage a sub-par total. Ben Dunk, Aiden Blizzard, Travis Birt and Jonathan Wells were all guilty of throwing away promising starts.

Wells and Birt were involved in a 52-run stand for the fifth wicket to raise visions of a competitive tally. But their dismissals, in the space of 13 runs, provided a late twist to the script.

The last 18 deliveries produced only 16 runs as Kings XI pulled things back and regained control.

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