Mohali: Kings XI Punjab made tougher for Royal Challengers Bangalore to reach the Indian Premier League play-offs as they outsmarted the visitors by 22 runs in a match that was reduced to 10 overs a side due to rain here on Wednesday.
Wriddhiman Saha's entertaining knock (31 runs off 12 balls) at the top of the order helped Kings XI post 106 for six against Royal Challengers.
The star studded batting line-up of Royal Challengers failed to deliver in the short chase as they could only reach 84 for six in 10 overs. Royal Challengers, however, are still very much in contention for a play-off berth, having 13 points from 12 games with two games remaining.
Kings XI Punjab, already out of the competition, won only their third game of the season. The away team were 33 for one by the first three overs of the chase with skipper Kohli (19 off 9) falling to Anureet Singh after dispatching the medium pacer for two fours and a straight six over long-on.
Kohli's fall meant another explosive duo was at the crease with no target too much for Gayle and AB de Villiers.
However, the often dreaded partnership did not last long as pacer Sandeep Sharma had Gayle (17 of 14) caught behind off a well-directed short ball, leaving the visitors at 44 for two in 4.4 overs. More trouble was in store for Royal Challengers when de Villiers (10 off 9) swept straight to the man at short-fine leg, his team still needing 40 off the last 20 balls.
The onus was on Mandeep Singh and Dinesh Karthik to get Royal Challengers over the line but it proved to be too much of a task for them.
Earlier, make shift opener Saha (31 off 12 balls) launched an all-out attack from ball one before quickfire innings from David Miller (14 off 4) and Akshar Patel (20* off 15) pushed Kings XI to a competitive total.
The game, supposed to start at 8 pm, began two hours and 45 minutes late with Royal Challengers putting Kings XI in to bat on a green surface.
Saha, replacing Murali Vijay at the top, got the hosts off to a cracking start much to the joy of fans who waited hours for the action to begin. Saha, opening alongside Manan Vohra, smashed Mitchell Starc for two fours in the opening over of the innings before hammering another left-arm pacer Sreenath Aravind in an over that went for 20 runs.
At 34 for no loss, Kings XI were off to a flier. The Bengal batsman was caught at mid on by Mandeep Singh off the first ball bowled by medium pacer David Wiese, but his cameo was enough to give Kings XI a much needed impetus early on.
However, Harshal Patel (2/12) removed Vohra (11) and Glenn Maxwell (10) in in the fifth over to peg back the home side at 54 for three.
The exhilarating pace of the innings was seen all throughout with batsmen getting out regularly after hitting some lusty blows. Same was the case for David Miller (14), who departed after smacking leggie Yuzvendra Chahal (2/25) for two consecutive sixes down the ground.
The regular loss of wickets in a 10-over innings eventually did not affect the tempo of the innings as Kings XI set up a challenging target.
