MOHALI, India, (Reuters) – Paul Valthaty struck the first century of the fourth Indian Premier League as Kings XI Punjab humbled Chennai Super Kings while Pune Warriors also claimed a home victory against Kochi Tuskers Kerala yesterday.
Mumbai-born Valthaty made the most of his surprise promotion in the batting order and remained not out after a blistering 63-ball 120 to power Kings XI Punjab to a six-wicket victory with five balls to spare.
The home side got off to a perfect start with paceman Praveen Kumar removing two batsmen with his first two deliveries to peg back the champions from Chennai, who are led by India’s World Cup winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Murali Vijay (74) and Subramaniam Badrinath (66) propped up the innings and Dhoni (43 off 20 balls) provided the late flourish to power the Chennai side to 188-4 but the day belonged to Valthaty who tore apart the tourists’ attack to give Punjab their maiden victory in the tournament.
In Mumbai, Pune Warriors restricted fellow IPL newcomers Kochi Tuskers Kerala to 148-8 and then fumbled in their chase, needing 14 runs from the last over to be sent down by Muttiah Muralitharan.
Mohnish Mishra kept his cool and hit one four and two sixes off the first five deliveries to script a four-wicket victory, Pune’s second win in the tournament.
