Midas Valthaty gives Punjab comprehensive win

Kings XI Punjab166 for 2 (Valthaty 75, Gilchrist 61) beat Deccan Chargers 165 for 8 (Dhawan 45, Sangakkara 35, Valthaty 4-29, McLaren 2-33) by eight wickets

	Paul Valthaty's 4 for 29 were the best figures for a Kings XI Punjab bowler © AFP

Match Meter DC Sangakkara and Dhawan flourish After the early fall of Sohal, Dhawan and Sangakkara added 75 for the second wicket, Deccan's highest for any wicket this season KXIP With one wicket, come two Dhawan followed Sangakkara back to the pavilion, and Deccan were now 91 for 3, needing to rebuild. KXIP Valthaty strikes again Christian threatened Punjab with a 14-ball 30, but Valthaty took two wickets in the 19th over to limit damage. KXIP Valthaty and Gilchrist show no mercyThe opening stand between Valthaty and Gilchrist, savage and calculated, worth 136, seals the deal for Punjab. Advantage Honours even

Don't shake Paul Valthaty's hand any time soon. You might just turn to gold. He followed up his century in Kings XI Punjab's previous game by surprising everybody with his split-finger slower balls, in the Dilhara Fernando mould, taking 4 for 29, the best figures by any Punjab bowler, and then - with a 47-ball 75 - made a mockery of a target he had himself kept down to 165.

The turnaround for Punjab began with a good piece of fielding, and then a fortuitous lob off what should have been a leg-side wide. Until then Kumar Sangakkara and Shikhar Dhawan had put up a fine display of driving in a 75-run second-wicket stand, Deccan's best for any wicket this season, but both fell within three runs to send the hosts into rebuild mode for the best part of the second half of their innings.

Deccan Chargers had reached 88 for 1 in the 11th over, and the set batsmen were just looking to open up further when a diving Shaun Marsh at extra cover made sure Sangakkara stayed on strike. Sangakkara slog-swept the next ball to deep midwicket where Ryan McLaren took a good, low catch. In the next over, Valthaty's slower ball went wrong, and was going way down the leg side until Dhawan decided to try and clear short fine leg. Instead, the ball landed in the fielder's lap. Two starts had been wasted, Deccan had to become circumspect.

Valthaty's next over featured two similar slower balls. Bharat Chipli escaped long-off off the first, but the other was picked up by long-on. Daniel Christian's 30 off 14 threatened a major assault towards the end, but Valthaty once again pulled Deccan back with two wickets in two balls: Christian was bowled attempting a slog, and Amit Mishra then missed a scoop over the keeper's head and was trapped lbw.

Valthaty didn't get a chance to finish a hat-trick: the wickets came off the last two deliveries of the 19th over. However, he would get a chance to make the match his own when opening the innings. And how he owned the game. Carrying the confidence that he could do no wrong, Valthaty upper-cut and flicked Dale Steyn, then cut Ishant Sharma for a six, and took Manpreet Gony apart with some merciless hitting in the fifth over, which went for 23 runs.

In that one over, Valthaty did everything to suggest that as a batsman there is nothing he cannot do. He judged a shortish delivery early, and pulled. He lofted a delivery of similar length over mid-off. He danced down the track to hit a six over long-off. He drove wide of the fielder once long-off went back. He drove a near-yorker past point for four. Adam Gilchrist, one of the cleanest hitters the game has seen, was a mere admirer. At 59 for 0 after five, the game was all but over.

Gilchrist wasn't to be left behind, though. Soon he was hitting Gony for one of the longest sixes of the tournament so far; soon he was pipping Valthaty to the fifty, bringing it up in 30 balls. Valthaty was 46 off 29 then. More clean hitting followed. Valthaty brought up his fifty with a six over long-off, and then hit another to overtake his captain. Gilchrist finally fell for 61, walking back to a hearty applause for his former home crowd, but Valthaty stayed back, and became the joint-highest run-getter this season, before finally getting out after having scored 195 runs between dismissals. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Paul Valthaty ton pulls off superb chase

Kings XI Punjab 193 for 4 (Valthaty 120*) beat Chennai Super Kings 188 for 4 (Vijay 74, Badrinath 66*) by six wickets

	Paul Valthaty pulled off a coup © AFP

The IPL's northernmost franchise found a hero with roots in the south, as Paul Valthaty stunned Chennai Super Kings to clinch a maiden win for Kings XI Punjab this season after a disappointing performance in their opening game. Valthaty was a surprise promotion to the opening slot, instead of the regular Shaun Marsh, and he answered the call with a blistering start, keeping his team on par with the required-rate in the middle overs and surging again at the death to complete victory after achieving a spectacular century.

At 27, with just one List A game and 13 Twenty20 matches, Valthaty had been on the sidelines of the Mumbai team on India's domestic circuit. His previous highest in the IPL was 6, but whatever he must have done at the practice sessions ahead of this game sparked a potentially career-changing turn of events. Punjab had been deflated at the end of the Chennai innings, after they had squandered the perfect start of two wickets off the first two balls to concede 188. The sight of an unfamiliar face walking out with Adam Gilchrist raised eyebrows, but it didn't take too long for Valthaty to justify his promotion.

Match Meter Punjab The perfect start: Two wickets off the first two balls of the innings for Praveen Kumar, and Punjab are on top Chennai The tide turns: Abhishek Nayar is smashed for 16 in an over with both M Vijay and S Badrinath cashing in. At 94 for 2 at the end of the 12th over, Chennai have recovered well Chennai The turnaround is complete: MS Dhoni tears into Praveen, smashing 22 runs in the 17th over off Praveen to set up an intimidating score of 188 PunjabChennai Punjab respond well: Albie Morkel is whacked for 16 in the sixth over of Punjab's chase, and at 65 for 1 they have begun well PunjabChennai Jittery moments in the chase: Sunny Singh and Abhishek Nayar fall off successive deliveres, giving Chennai hope while Valthaty looks threatening at the other end Punjab The game-changing over: Morkel's day ends in misery as he returns in the 17th over to be smashed for three consecutive fours by Valthaty, as the game turns completely Punjab's way Advantage Honours even

In what was overall a descent into mediocrity for both teams with the ball, the only signs of promise were visible in the first few overs in either innings. As Tim Southee found some swing and R Ashwin accuracy in the early phase of the chase, Valthaty did as asked, combating the bowling with brute force as his usually belligerent partner ceded floor. Ashwin was swept over square leg and hit over mid-on, Southee was punished for providing width with a bludgeon through point and Albie Morkel was welcomed with a ferocious pull for six followed by a disdainful slash to the point boundary.

Valthaty had smashed 45 of the 65 that came in the Powerplay, the wicket of Gilchrist proving a minor distraction. The focus turned to keeping the momentum with Punjab and he showed his adeptness at picking the gaps, backing up the strength in his forearms with a wonderful use of the wrists. The second ball after the Powerplay was delicately late-cut past point, and the singles were picked up with ease amid excellent support from Sunny Singh at the other end who struck a few useful blows of his own.

Valthaty hammered Jakati and Randiv through the off side and lofted Styris for a straight six, ensuring the chase was on track despite the loss of Sunny and Abhishek Nayar in quick succession. Thirty-eight were needed off 24 when Morkel was brought back, a decision MS Dhoni was made to regret. Morkel had dropped Valthaty twice, among the many fielding lapses from Chennai, and hurt his team's chances even further in an over that fetched 17. He gifted a full toss on the pads, then produced a streaky edge that brought up a 52-ball ton for Valthaty, who followed up with superbly timed steer past point to make it 21 off three overs. Even the otherwise impressive Southee faltered against Valthaty in his final over to be slashes for two fours, before Dinesh Karthik slog-swept Jakati to seal a morale-boosting win.

That performance undermined a Chennai recovery led by Badrinath and Vijay, one seeking to constantly improvise and the other relying on powerplay, in a 124-run stand to set the foundation for a total that would test the opposition even on a flat pitch. Some inept bowling from Piyush Chawla and Bhargav Bhatt provided them the release to open up after the early tough phase, while Nayar's failed variations in pace and Praveen's poor return at the death, in the 18th over where Dhoni blasted 22, appeared to have put it beyond Punjab. Who would have bet on Valthaty to pull off a coup? © ESPN EMEA Ltd.