Five-star Mascarenhas leads Kings XI to victory

News

The Kings XI are finally up and running in the 2012 IPL after Dimitri Mascarenhas's five-wicket haul helped them to a seven-wicket win over the Pune Warriors in Mohali.

The Kings XI are finally up and running in the 2012 IPL after Dimitri Mascarenhas's five-wicket haul helped them to a seven-wicket win over the Pune Warriors in Mohali.

Adam Gilchrist's decision to ask the Warriors to bat first proved to be a good one as they bowled the visitors out for just 115 in 19 overs with Mascarenhas claiming a career-best five for 25.

The all-rounder must have felt he was bowling in seamer-friendly conditions in England as he removed Sourav Ganguly, Marlon Samuels, Robin Uthappa, Mithun Manhas and Rahul Sharma.

There wasn't much to write home about for the Warriors batting wise with Manhas top scoring with 31 from 28 balls before he was bowled by Mascarenhas.

The rot started very early on as Jesse Ryder was run-out by David Hussey in the third over and Mascarenhas made sure they never recovered as he kept dismissing batsmen at regular intervals.

Pune's bowlers knew they had to pick up early wickets if they wanted to give their side a chance of victory and Ashok Dinda provided them a dream start when he removed Paul Valthaty with the first ball of the innings.

Gilchrist, who has been struggling for runs so far this season, steadied the ship with 21 before he Angelo Mathews had him caught by Steven Smith.

Shaun Marsh, though, was the batting hero for the hosts as he smashed 64 from 54 balls to lead his team to their first win of the campaign. He first shared a 50-run stand with Gilchrist before seeing his side over the finish line with 46-run stand with Piyush Chawla.

latest-news reports-previews

Latest