Mumbai: Pune Warriors won their debut match in IPL by comprehensively beating Kings XI Punjab by seven wickets with 6.5 overs to spare at Mumbai on Sunday.
Earlier, Kings XI Punjab fought back with the wickets of Mithun Manhas and Jesse Ryder as Sahara Pune Warriors chased 113 for victory.Ryder and Minhas took charge of proceedings after Graeme Smith fell to Praveen Kumar.
Debutant Pune Warriors started their stint in the Indian Premier League on an impressive note by restricting Kings XI to a modest 112 for eight.
A double strike each by Pune's opening bowlers -- Alfonso Thomas and Shrikant Wagh Kings XI staggering at nine for four within the first four overs after captain Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to bat first on a wicket offering good bounce.
The top four batsmen, including former Australian great Gilchrist, were packed off cheaply by South African Thomas and Wagh and only a late charge by another South African, Ryan McLaren who made a half century, propelled Punjab past the century mark.
All-rounder McLaren made an unbeaten 51 in 43 balls with six fours and a six after coming into bat at number seven, besides putting on 35 runs in 52 balls with fellow left-hander Piyush Chawla (15), who was the second-highest scorer.
For Pune, 22-year-old Vidarbha left arm seamer Wagh finished with impressive figures of three for 16 while 34-year-old Cape Town-born Thomas picked up two wickets for 27.
Punjab made a poor start by losing both their openers inside the first two overs and then their number three and four batsmen within the space of 21 balls.
First to go was captain Gilchrist. Having played very little competitive cricket between the last IPL and the current one barring a stint with Engish country Middlesex, he feathered a catch to wicket-keeper Robin Uthappa while attempting to pull speedster Thomas off the fourth ball.
His opening partner and countryman Shaun Marsh was the next to depart, flicking left arm seamer Wagh to Rahul Sharma at fine leg in the second over.
Worse was to follow when Paul Valthaty was caught at point off Alfonso by Jesse Ryder after having cover-driven the 34-year-old South African right-arm bowler for a four. Dinesh Kartik then slashed Wagh straight to Sharma at third man.
The top four Punjab batsmen had been cleaned out by Pune opening bowlers with only nine on board in 21 balls.
There was a brief recovery through Sunny Singh and Abhishek Nayar, who escaped when he was caught off a no ball off Murali Kartik, but the former was hopelessly run out for 12 almost immediately following a bad mix-up with his left-handed partner.
At this stage Punjab were tottering at 36 for five which became 45 for six a little later when Nayar was caught at backward point from Ryder's bowling.
The stand between McLaren and Chawla helped Punjab from being bowled out as well as cross the 100-run mark.
In pics: Pune Warriors vs Kings XI Punjab
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