Mascarenhas powers Kings XI to season’s first win
Kings XI Punjab came up with an all- round show to notch up a seven- wicket win over Pune Warriors in their return leg match of the Indian Premier League and climb off the bottom of the league table at the PCA Stadium in Mohali on Thursday.
Englishman Dimitri Mascarenhas led the rout with a five- wicket haul, while Shaun Marsh ( 64, 54 balls) shone with the bat as the hosts chased down a 115- run target in 17.4 overs.
Earlier, a double blow by Englishman Dimitri Mascarenhas in the final over of the powerplay, followed by three more wickets including the scalp of in- form Robin Uthappa, saw Punjab restrict Pune to 115 in 19 overs. Mascarenhas’ figures of 5/ 25 are the best by any Kings XI bowler.
Mascarenhas donned the role of Kings’ strike bowler perfectly even as Praveen Kumar went wicketless for the third match in a row. However, Praveen and debutant Parvinder Awana did the containing act well giving away only 37 runs in their eight overs.
Pune’s top half failed to deliver as skipper Sourav Ganguly ( 16) became Mascarenhas’ first victim — sending him back off his very first delivery in the sixth over.
Ganguly, earlier, was involved in a mix up with Jesse Ryder giving the Kings their opening wicket in the second over. Mascarenhas then bowled Marlon Samuels as Pune were reduced to 29/ 3.
There was a brief phase when the Warriors looked to consolidate through Uthappa and Mithun Manhas. However, Kings’ skipper Adam Gilchrist’s move to bring back Mascarenhas paid off, sending both batsmen back to the pavilion.
At 96/ 5, all was not lost for the Warriors with Manhas and Steven Smith in the middle. But leggie Piyush Chawla removed Smith, while Manish Pandey, the next man in, too fell cheaply.
With the fall of Manhas for 31 in the 18th over, Kings’ hope of getting a competitive total went up in smoke.
Mascarenhas completed his five- for with the wicket off Rahul Sharma, before an athletic Awana ran Ashok Dinda out of his own ball in the 19th over.