Shaun Marsh hit 43 and Bhargav Bhatt bagged four wickets as bottom-placed Kings XI Punjab stunned table-toppers Mumbai Indians by 76 runs in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday. In another match, Shaun’s younger brother, Mitchell, took four wickets and Sourav Ganguly hit an unbeaten 32 on his comeback as Pune Warriors beat Deccan Chargers by six wickets.
Mumbai could never recover after losing three wickets for 27 runs and were bowled out for 87 in 12.5 overs chasing a 164-run target, with West Indies’ Kieron Pollard top-scoring with 17 in a dismal batting show. Seamer Praveen Kumar did the early damage when he took two of the first three wickets, including that of skipper Sachin Tendulkar (six). Left-arm spinner Bhatt finished with 4-22, including three wickets in one over.
Australians Shaun Marsh and Adam Gilchrist (28), and Dinesh Karthik (31) helped Punjab post a competitive total despite a five-wicket haul by seamer Munaf Patel (5-21). Marsh, who put on 70 for the second wicket with skipper Gilchrist, hit five fours in his 34-ball knock before falling to a superb diving catch by Pollard in the deep off Patel.
Mumbai, who had already made sure of a place in the semi-finals, still lead with 16 points.
They are followed by Chennai (14), Kolkata (14), Bangalore (13), Rajasthan (11), Kochi (10), Pune (eight), Delhi (eight), Punjab (eight) and Deccan (six). Paceman Mitchell Marsh, 19, earlier finished with 4-25 as Pune restricted Deccan to 136-8 before achieving the target with 10 balls to spare. Former India captain Ganguly, who went unsold at the player auction before being signed up by Pune as a replacement for injured seamer Ashish Nehra, looked impressive during his 32-ball knock, hitting one six and three fours.
Opener Manish Pandey top-scored for Pune with 49, while New Zealander Jesse Ryder smashed a 20-ball 35 with the help of two sixes and five fours. Marsh, son of former Australian opener Geoff Marsh, and left-arm spinner Yuvraj Singh (2-17) were instrumental in restricting Deccan. Deccan made a strong start after electing to bat when Ravi Teja (30) and Shikhar Dhawan (24) put on 51 for the opening wicket.
Marsh got a wicket in his opening over when he bowled Teja before dismissing South African JP Duminy (30), Sunny Sohal and Amit Mishra in his last over.
Brief scores:
Deccan Chargers 136-8 in 20 overs (JP Duminy 30, R. Teja 30, S. Dhawan 24; M. Marsh 4-25, Yuvraj Singh 2-17) lost to Pune Warriors 137-4 in 18.2 overs (M. Pandey 49, J. Ryder 35, S. Ganguly 32 not out; D. Christian 2-21) by six wickets.
Kings XI Punjab 163-8 in 20 overs (S. Marsh 43, D. Karthik 31, A. Gilchrist 28; M. Patel 5-21, L. Malinga 2-24) beat Mumbai Indians 87 in 12.5 overs (B. Bhatt 4-22, P. Kumar 2-19) by 76 runs.
