Hyderabad: Kings XI Punjab openers Adam Gilchrist and Paul Valthaty brought up stroke-filled half centuries to take life out of the Deccan Chargers' bowling in match 15 of IPL-4 here on Saturday.
But the chase didn't start without a drama as Ishant Sharma almost got his man but for a no-ball when he had Valthaty caught at point.The Kings XI openers, however, went from strength to strength, with Gilchrist joining Valthaty in the assault on Deccan Chargers.
While Valthaty started the attack, Gilchrist took it to a different level with his half century in just 30 balls en route to a century opening stand.
Sangakkara's all attempts to break the partnership fell apart as the duo treated both pacers and spinners with utter disdain. And Valthaty eventually reached his half century off 35 balls.
With less than fifty runs left to win, Gilchrist chose to go on an all out attack and in that endeavour, holed out at deep square leg to give Amit Mishra and Deccan Chargers their first wicket of the match. The KXIP skipper scored 61 off 46 balls, including five fours and three sixes.
That also ended the 136-run opening stand between Gilchrist and Valthaty - the highest of the IPL-4 until now.
By now, Valthaty had a license to thrill and finish it in a hurry as he took an hit-all approach and surpassed Sachin Tendulkar to bag the orange cap as the tournament's leading run-scorer.
However, off the very next ball Mishra got his man as Ishant Sharma took a nice running catch at long-on to dismiss Valthaty, who scored 75 off 47 balls with eight fours and five towering sixes.
Earlier, Valthaty took a four-wicket haul for Kings XI Punjab but Daniel Christian’s 14-ball cameo of 30 runs helped the hosts Deccan Chargers notch up a competitive total of 165/8.
Opening the batting for the hosts after being put in to bat, Sunny Sohal tried to loft Harris over mid-off but could not clear the fielder.
Chargers' skipper Kumar Sangakkara then strode in at his customary No. 3 position and started rotating the strike to start off.
Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan chose to be the aggressor and took on the KXIP bowlers, increasing the scoring rate by the end of 10 overs.
But just when it looked the two would take the game away from KXIP, Piyush Chawla and part-timer Paul Valthaty delivered body blows by removing Sangakkara (35) and Dhawan (46) in consecutive overs.
JP Duminy and all-rounder Daniel Christian then took things in their hands to end the innings with a flourish.
But after scoring 18, Duminy fell in quest of quick runs as he was caught by Piyush Chawla off Ryan McLaren.
Next man in was Manpreet Singh Gony but he too failed, sent back into the hut for a naught as McLaren claimed his second victim of the day.
But it was all left on Daniel Christian's shoulder to deliver some quick runs in the end and he responded with a six off Valthaty.
But Punjab's last-match hero with the bat delivered for them with the ball in hand as he bowled Christian in the same over after a whirlwind 30 off 14 balls, including two fours and two sixes.
Valthaty made it four wickets to his kitty in the same over as he sent back Amit Mishra without scoring to end with figures of 4/29 in his four overs.
In pics:Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab
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