Kings XI Punjab bounced back into contention with a nail-biting three-wicket victory over Deccan Chargers in a Indian Premier League thriller here on Saturday.
After restricting the formidable Deccan Chargers to 168 for 5, built around Andrew Symonds' unbeaten 60, the Kings XI Punjab rode on Mahela Jayawardene's quickfire 28-ball 43 and some lusty hitting by the tail-enders to scamper home with just one ball to spare.
Fortune fluctuated from one team to the other till the dying moments before Kings XI, who desperately needed a victory to keep themselves afloat in the tournament, tilted the balance in their favour on a tricky track at the De Beers Diamond Oval.
With nine runs required from the last over, Punjab's Piyush Chawla cracked a boundary off pacer R P Singh's first delivery and then held nerves to rotate strikes with Brett Lee to achieve a competitive target of 169.
Punjab's Sri Lankan import Mahela Jayawardene, with his fighting 48 off 23 balls, laid the foundation of the win which denied the Deccan their second victory on the trot.
Earlier, put into bat first, Symonds cracked an unbeaten 60 off just 36 balls to guide Deccan Chargers to competitive 168 for 5.
SCORES IN BRIEF
DECCAN CHARGERS: 168 for 5 in 20 overs (Gilchrist 20, Suman 27, Symonds 60 not out, Venugopal 32)
KINGS XI PUNJAB: 169 for 7 in 19.5 overs (Sohal 30, Sangakkara 25, Yuvraj 18, Jayawardene 43; Sharma 2-12, Shoaib 2-25)
Result: Kings XI Punjab won by 3 wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Mahela Jayawardene.
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