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Kings drub Hurricanes

All-round Perera, fiery Maxwell bail out home team
Last Updated 18 September 2014, 19:04 IST

A cracking knock from Glenn Maxwell and an all-round show by Thisara Perera helped Kings XI Punjab overcome a poor start to their chase and win the battle of first-timers against Hobart Hurricanes by five wickets in the Champions League T20 here on Thursday.

Kings XI were reduced to 51 for four in the chase of 145 before Maxwell hammered 43 runs off 25 balls to turn things around for the home team. Thereafter, captain George Bailey (34 runs of 27 balls) and Perera (35 off 20) shared a blistering 69-run stand to make short work of the target in 17.4 overs.

Hurricanes, who made their tournament debut alongside Kings XI, recovered to make 144 for six after Bailey won the toss and decided to put the opposition in.

Kings XI had a disastrous start to their chase with Virender Sehwag caught at third man off Doug Bollinger (2/30) off the very first ball.

The hosts, high on international stars, were expected to chase down the target easily but the Hurricanes bowlers dashed that expectation by making the opposition batsmen uncomfortable through sheer pace.

Wicketkeeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha (11) joined Manan Vohra at the crease came after Sehwag’s failure. He could not negotiate the serious pace for long and scooped a simple catch to Shoaib Malik at mid-on.

Ben Hilfenhaus (1/30) was equally effective from the other end and took the important wicket of David Miller (0) to leave Kings XI reeling at 23 for three in the fourth over. The southpaw went for the big shot straight away only to be caught at mid-off.

Soon after Vohra’s innings came to end, making it 51 for four in 7.3 overs.All Kings XI’s hopes were now pinned on their dangerous overseas player Maxwell and he did not disappoint.

He instantly made his presence felt by hammering Bol­linger for a straight six.Maxwell, one of the stars of IPL-7, went on to smash four boundaries and another maximum in his blazing knock. The Kings camp knew they will be home if the ‘big show’ stayed any longer.

His sudden departure, however, tilted the game in favour of Hurricanes again. Maxwell attempted to whack another one out of the park over mid-wicket but ended up edging it to the wicketkeeper off medium pacer Evan Gulbis. The hosts still needed 68 runs off 54 balls.
It was down to skipper Bailey and Perera to get their team over the line and the experienced pair eventually managed to do that with little difficulty.

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(Published 18 September 2014, 19:04 IST)

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