May 25, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1429

MOHALI, May 24: Shaun Marsh and Kumar Sangakkara were involved in a classy opening stand that ensured a six-wicket victory for Mohali’s Kings XI Punjab against Hyderabad Deccan Chargers in their Indian Premier League match at the PCA Stadium here on Friday.

The left-handed pair recorded the fastest half-century by a team (3.5 overs) in the tournament and their 84-run stand provided the buffer to chase down a target of 176 with ease in a match of little consequence as they had virtually qualified for the semifinals before this match and Hyderabad were already out of contention.

Promising Aussie batsman Marsh notched up his fifth half-century, a 46-ball knock of 60 seeing him smash three sixes and as many fours. For a change, Marsh was content playing second fiddle to Sangakkara, who notched up the second fastest fifty of the tournament, taking two balls more than Jaipur all-rounder Yusuf Pathan’s record of 21 deliveries.

The Sri Lankan wicket-keeper/batsman played quite a few inside-out shots in his seven fours and two sixes. Sangakkara was caught at long-off to part-time spinner Rohit Sharma.

Yuvraj Singh was also caught in the deep a little later and the wickets of Marsh and Luke Pomersbach (13) saw the team slip to 149-4.

Just when the pressure seemed to be creeping up, Piyush Chawla eased it with a six off the first ball of the 19th over bowled by Scott Styris, who later in the over bowled a full toss down the leg side for Mahela Jayawardene to dispatch with ease over the square-leg boundary and virtually seal the win, which finally came with three balls to spare.

Earlier, Rohit Sharma capitalised on a fluent opening partnership between Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs to help Hyderabad set a challenging 176-run target.

Sharma continued his superb run, slamming a quick-fire 50 that was spiced with four sixes and three fours and came off just 27 deliveries. Sharma, who plays for Mumbai in domestic cricket, once took 21 runs off an over from Gagandeep Singh, including two well-timed sixes.

Sharma’s blitz followed a superb start from Gilchrist (50) and Gibbs (44), who figured in a brisk 79-run stand that formed the bedrock for a total of 175-4.

Mohali had virtually ensured a semi-final berth after a thrilling one-run victory over Mumbai Indians in their previous match with eight wins in 11 matches.

Summarised scores:

DECCAN CHARGERS 175-4 in 20 overs (Adam Gilchrist 50, Rohit Sharma 50, Herschelle Gibbs 44, Chamara Silva 23 not out); KINGS XI PUNJAB 178-4 in 19.3 overs (Shaun Marsh 60, Kumar Sangakkara 50; Pragyan Ojha 2-30).—Agencies