May 2, 2011
Kings XI Punjab was handed another defeat by the mighty Mumbai Indians. Winning the toss Adam Gilchrist decided to field first. Half centuries by in form Tendulkar & Rayadu and late burst by Pollard & Rohit Sharma took MI to a respectable score of 159. KXP had a disastrous start losing Gilcrist in the first over for a duck. Further to add to their miseries, they had just 24 on board in the first 6 overs. Slow start and losing wickets at regular interval finally led to a 23 runs defeat.For Punjab, Marsh & Valthaty only had some respectable scores. Marsh scored 61 with 8 elegant fours. On the other hand Valthaty scored 33 off 38 balls. His knock contained 2 hugees and a four. Just like the last game Paul Valthaty looked uncomfortable on the ground or was a bit overcautious. Of the first 24 balls he faced, he scored only 8 runs. Though he later tried to up the tempo and was successful also to some extent, he got himself out hitting a six. His fall led to a batting collapse and KXP were only able to manage 136.
Punjab next plays Bangalore on 6th and would be desperate to win. As for the orange cap, Tendulkar's 51 has got him the orange cap as of now. His total stands at 327 in 8 matches. Paul Valthaty is closely following him at 301 off a match less. Its looks like even the competition for the orange cap is going to be a heated one..
