Punjab Seal Massive Win, KKR into Playoffs

Dharamsala: Kings XI Punjab made their chances of getting to the top 4 a world of good with a thumping 6 wicket win over Chennai in IPL match at HPCA Stadium. Kolkata Knight Riders reach into last four.

Punjab lost Mandeep Singh, Nitin Saini and David Hussey in quick succession after good opening stand. Adam Gilchrist and Mandeep shared 51-run stand for the first wicket to set the tone for Kings XI.

Kings XI Punjab pacers produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict defending champions Chennai Super Kings to 120 for seven in a crucial Indian Premier League match on Thursday.

Kings XI pacers were right on the money from the time their skipper Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to bowl and picked up wickets at regular intervals.

On a bouncy HPCA Stadium pitch, Praveen Kumar (2/18), Parvinder Awana (2/12) and Azhar Mahmood (2/28) shared six wickets between them, while Ryan Harris (1/24) accounted for the other CSK batsman.

Dwayne Bravo played an important 43-ball 46-run knock in the middle, during which he struck two fours and three sixes, to take CSK to the 120-run mark after the visitors lost half of their side for just 78 runs in the 16th over.

Sent into bat, CSK lost both their openers -- Murali Vijay (10) and Mike Hussey -- early.

Praveen Kumar accounted for both the batsmen in consecutive overs in identical fashion. Both Vijay and Hussey edged simple catches to Gilchrist.

Suresh Raina (17 off 13), soon after his arrival, got a life when Chawla dropped a regulation catch at the first slip off Praveen in the seventh over. The missed chance proved little costly for Kings XI as Raina clobbered Mahmood for back-to-back sixes in the next over before the bowler took his revenge a ball later. Much to the relief of Chawla, Raina's short-little burst came to an end when he edged Mahmood to Gilchrist.

CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also failed to live up to his reputation and was dismissed for six, caught by Nitin Saini at third man off Awana as CSK slumped to 46 for four.

Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja (13) tried hard to resurrect the CSK innings with a 32-run fifth wicket stand before the later was sent packing by Awana.

Bravo was instrumental in another crucial partnership, a 34-run sixth-wicket stand with Albie Morkel (14 off 8) to help CSK's cause to some extent.

Brief scores
Chennai Super Kings 120 for 7 (Bravo 48)
Kings XI Punjab 123 for 4 (Gilchrist 64*, Mandeep Singh 24)
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 6 wickets
MOM Adam Gilchrist (Kings XI Punjab)
Points: Kings XI Punjab 2, Chennai Super Kings 0