Rising Pune Supergiants 152/7 (20 overs)
Kings XI Punjab 153/4 (18.4 overs)
For Kings XI Punjab, the problem areas over the areas have been at the start and end of their innings in the past.
They got it right at both ends to get their first points at home on Sunday and leave Rising Pune Supergiants smarting with a second defeat.
Punjab paid a lot to get Mohit Sharma because they did not have quality when bowling in the death overs. The medium-pacer reaped dividends with a spell of three for 23 that bottled up Pune from 139 for three to 152 for seven at the Punjab Stadium ground in Mohali.
MS Dhoni’s Pune were all set to step up the gear in the final five overs of play after Faf du Plessis (67) and Steve Smith (38) had done the bulk of the scoring.
In reply, Punjab's Murali Vijay (53) and Manan Vohra (51) joined in the IPL 9 trend this season where openers have sacrificed slam bang cricket for sensible batting. Vijay was first to take charge of stepping up the scoring in their 97-run partnership but Vohra reached his half-century first.
There was a bit of wobble with Punjab losing four wickets in the space of 23 runs, including the openers, but Glenn Maxwell, who was being held back by captain David Miller, came out charging and sealed the game with a 14-ball knock of 32.
“It all clicked tonight,” a happy Miller said to StarSports. “We got a good start from the openers and before that the bowlers did really well.
“Our batting in the middle overs ... we still need to think about that,” Miller said.
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