Winning is a habit and that is what Kings XI Punjab skipper George Bailey said during the toss and his side maintained their captain’s saying by winning their fourth consecutive group game of the Champions League T20 at the PCA Stadium in Mohali.
The Kings XI registered a thumping seven wickets win over the Cape Cobras and remained invincible in the group round. They were not at all troubled during the run chase and achieved the target with eleven balls to spare against the Cobras.
Bailey is a mastermind and he proved it yet again by inviting the Cobras to bat on a pitch that was expected to help the slow bowlers. His decision, however, looked to backfire when openers Hashim Amla and Richard Levi stitched a 60 runs partnership.
After the departure of Amla, who made a scorching 22-ball 40, Levi continued to pile pressure on the Kings and put the Cobras in a strong position. The South African team, however, couldn’t maintain the momentum and collapsed in the second half of the innings.
Right-arm medium pacer Anureet Singh and Akshar Patel played crucial roles in bundling the Cobras for a mere 135 in 18.3 overs, when they cruising nicely at one point. Anureet finished with three wickets, while Akshar, as usual, ripped through the middle-order.
“Good fightback with the ball and we did the job with the bat,” Bailey said. “It was a tired wicket, holding up a little bit and it was pretty clinical in the end. Wonderjob job, he (Akshar Patel) does through the innings.”
“He contains, he takes wickets and he does it with a short sleeved shirt which is pleasing,” he added. “They (Akshar and Anureet) bowl very beautifully together. I reckon he’s a little lucky tonight.”
There was nothing much on the board to defend for the Cobras and they succumbed to yet another defeat in the tournament. Virender Sehwag and Manan Vohra against gave Punjab a decent start and put them on course of another win in the tournament.
The Kings XI batsmen were under no threat and took time to settle in and then started hitting big. Sehwag (26-ball 23) played slow than his nature, but the crowd at the PCA Stadium witnessed some mighty blows from Glenn Maxwell (19-ball 23) and Wriddhiman Saha.
Maxwell, however, couldn’t finish the job but David Miller (16 not out) and Saha (42 not out) made sure that the Indian Premier League (IPL) finalists receive no more hiccups and drove the team home in the nineteenth over.
“We knew we had to put a big score with such a strong batting line up,” the Cobras skipper Dane Vilas said. “We tried out best out there but unfortunately not good enough.”
“Came in rusty and started too slow and playing catch up is very tough,” he added. “The spinners bowled beautifully. Robbie bowled beautifully and SR [Engelbrecht], with the other game as well, hes been great.”
