It’s four in a row for the Punjab Kings XI

Irfan Pathan stars with an all-round performance

It was Irfan Pathan who made the difference to the fortunes of Punjab. After scoring a timely, unbeaten 24 off 26 deliveries late in Punjab’s innings, he had a hand in the first three dismissals that set the tone for his team’s victory. He took a catch in the deep to send back Sourav Ganguly and then accounted for opener Mohammad Hafeez and Brad Hodge.

The Knight Riders fought fiercely to chase down the total at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali, with Victoria's Twenty20 specialist David Hussey racing to 71 from 46 deliveries. Hussey also contributed with the ball, taking 1 for 23 from his three-over spell.

Prasanta Saha also contributed a valuable unbeaten 59, but the visitors ultimately fell short and were restricted to 6 for 169.

Earlier, batting by choice, Punjab got off to a brisk start with Marsh and fellow-Australian James Hopes scoring 28 runs in under four overs. Then a desperate charge from the lower-middle order helped Kings XI Punjab set a challenging target. The host, from 82 for one at one stage, lost its way somewhat in the middle overs. Yuvraj Singh, Marsh, Mahela Jayawardene and Karan Goel departed in the space of 24 runs and 4.3 overs.

Thereafter, Irfan Pathan and Sangakkara raised 49 runs for the sixth wicket to resurrect Punjab’s fortunes. The icing on the cake came from Piyush Chawla who smashed 4, 4, 2, 4, 6 off the last five deliveries bowled by Ishant Sharma.

The scores:

Kings XI Punjab: S. Marsh st. Saha b Hussey 40, J. Hopes c Hodge b Dinda 18, K. Sangakkara b Gul 28, Yuvraj st. Saha b Hafeez 17, M. Jayawardene c Ganguly b Gul 10, K. Goel (run out) 6, I. Pathan (not out) 24, P. Chawla (not out) 21; Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-1, w-4): 14; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 178.

Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-82, 3-98, 4-102, 5-106, 6-155.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Ishant 4-0-41-0, Agarkar 3-0-26-0, Dinda 3-0-24-1, Hafeez 3-0-28-1, Hussey 3-0-23-1, Gul 4-0-27-2.

Kolkata Knight Riders: M. Hafeez b Pathan 13, S. Ganguly c Pathan b Sreesanth 5, D. Das c Yuvraj b Sreesanth 5, B. Hodge lbw b Pathan 1, D. Hussey c Hopes b Gagandeep 71, L. Shukla b V.R.V. Singh 7, P. Saha (not out) 59, A. Agarkar (not out) 1; Extras (b-1, w-6): 7; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 169.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-23, 3-25, 4-29, 5-50, 6-154.

Kings XI Punjab bowling: Sreesanth 4-0-25-2, Pathan 4-0-18-2, V.R.V. Singh 4-0-31-1, Gagandeep 4-0-43-1, Hopes 3-0-35-0, Chawla 1-0-16-0.