A scintillating, unbeaten 93 by Mahela Jayawardene was overpowered by an equally brilliant 68 not out by Rohit Sharma as the Deccan Chargers chased down a tough target of 175 set by the Kings XI Punjab at the scenic setting in Dharmasala. Rohit and T Suman joined forces after their team got off to a rapid start, at 54 for 2 in seventh over.

And, by the time, Piyush Chawla managed to have Suman caught behind for 43 (from 31 balls), the score had progressed to 120 in the 14th over. There were some anxious moments for Deccan after Suman’s dismissal. But, Rohit batted with great maturity to see his side through.

The beauty of the partnership between Suman and Rohit was that they attacked from the word go and never let the bowlers get on top of them. Both batted with supreme confidence, which came courtesy their successes in the recent games. They were especially severe on the seamers, lofting them with ease.

Neither among Vikramjeet Malik, Irfan Pathan or Shalabh Srivastava could make any kind of an impression. Pathan did strike early, getting the big scalp of the struggling opposition skipper Adam Gilchrist. Unfortunately for Punjab, he was the man to let Deccan off the hook when things got tight towards the end. Rohit took a liking to him, driving him with ease on the off-side and plucking twos and also lofting him for a magnificent six to level the score.

Suman, on the other hand, struck to his tried and tested formula of his inside out strokes and succeeded yet again. In all, he hit three fours and three sixes, supporting Deccan perfectly as they went about approaching the target in an aggressive manner. Kumar Sangakkara tried to distract the duo by constantly chopping and changing the bowling. But, it did not work as both the batsmen looked well-settled at the crease.

Eventually, it needed one from Chawla that turned away to end Suman’s resistance. Soon, Juan Theron cleaned up Andrew Symonds for 4 with one that kept low. But, Sharma ensured that there were no more hiccups. A couple of lusty blows by 18-year-old Mitchell Marsh helped as they registered a five-wicket win and kept their hopes of progressing to the semis very much alive.

Sharma’s genius undid some splendid work by Jayawardene earlier in the day. The former Sri Lankan skipper was in his elements once again after Gilchrist won the toss and inserted the opposition in. Punjab got off to the worst possible start as Shaun Marsh edged a superb outswinger from Ryan Harris first ball. However, that only brought a fired up Sangakkara to the crease.

Taking on RP Singh and Marsh, Sangakkara got Punjab into a position of strength. He did not slog but struck to his natural game, timing the ball to perfection. Thanks to his blistering half-century, Punjab raced to 87 in the 12th over, before indiscretion got the better of him, a predetermined reverse sweep was lapped up by Pragyan Ojha.

Following the skipper’s dismissal, Jayawardene’s bat fell silent and Yuvraj Singh’s lack of form did not help either. But, once Jayawardene broke the shackles dispatching Marsh to the fence, there was no looking back. He punched five consecutive fours off RP Singh to lift Punjab to 174 for 3. At the break, it seemed a competitive score. And, but for Rohit’s blaze, it could have been a match-winning one.

On a low, slow pitch at the Ferozshah Kotla, Kings XI Punjab bowled with great heart and were ably supported by some insipid batting and poor running from Delhi Daredevils, who won the toss and elected to bat. The home team were bowled out for a paltry 111, Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla once again starring with the ball for Punjab. When it was their turn to bat, the visitors opened with Pathan partnering Mahela Jayawardene, a clear indication that they wanted to attack the Delhi bowlers upfront.

The ploy did not come off. But, Jayawardene kept the runs flowing from the other end. Then, despite some tight bowling from Delhi, the experience of Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara saw Punjab causing another upset, after the defeat they handed out to Mumbai Indians.

Without a doubt, it was their batting effort which hurt Delhi big time. After Pathan got Virender Sehwag in the second over of the match, they recovered well via some aggressive batting by their skipper Gautam Gambhir.

With five fours, he raced to 26 in 11 balls before a moment of madness cost him his wicket. A confusion between him and David Warner saw him being stranded out of his crease and getting run out for the third time in this IPL, clearly something he needs to work on. For Punjab, this was just the breakthrough they needed.

Warner (7) joined Gambhir in the pavilion soon, being dismissed in a similar fashion to his skipper, Paul Collingwood was his partner on this occasion. On a pitch where, as it is, batting was extremely difficult, Delhi could not have afforded to give away wickets so cheaply; the fact that they did, compounded their woes manifold.

Piyush Chawla joined in the act for Punjab, producing another mesmerising spell. On a wicket that seemed tailor-made for his style of bowling, the leg spinner trapped Collingwood with a perfectly directed googly and did the same to Daniel Vettori a little later.

At 63 for 5, the innings was in tatters. But, if Delhi had a reason to be positive, it was that they too had two potent spinners in Vettori and Amit Mishra. Before that, however, they needed to put up a challenging total. In Mithun Manhas and Dinesh Karthik, they had two men who were capable of staging a fightback. But, Punjab were determined not to let that happen.

Pathan returned to end Karthik’s resistance for 17 while Manhas gave his hand away, falling to Juan Theron on 26. The mop-up job did not take long.

Delhi needed to strike early with the ball to have sniff. That was not to be. And, though the bowling was competitive, Jayawardene ensured that he picked up a few boundaries here and there, including a mighty six, thereby not allowing the pressure to build. When he was eventually dismissed for 38, Punjab had reached 65 in the 11th over. A couple of quick wickets would have still put the pressure back on batting side.

But Sangakkara and Yuvraj (21*) joined hands and featured in a sensible partnership. By the time, Sangakkara was dismissed for 33, Punjab were on the doorsteps of victory. They might not make it to the semis, but Punjab are clearly beginning to show their capabilities. Better late than never.

In the battle of the best versus the worst in the IPL so far, the latter surprisingly came on top, thanks to a disciplined bowling effort and a competent performance with bat.

Kings XI Punjab were playing their last match at their home ground in Mohali and were determined to give the crowd something to cheer about at last. Piyush Chawla and Irfan Pathan combined to pick three wickets each while the Sri Lankan duo of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara prospered with the willow to guide Punjab to only their third victory in the tournament.

On their part, Mumbai Indians put in a tough fight with the ball, but their batsmen had left them with a little too much to do.

While there were a number of significant contributions from Punjab’s side, none was more vital than the one by leggie Chawla. Mumbai had recovered from the early loss of Shikhar Dhawan, cleaned up by Pathan, and were beginning to from gain the ascendancy courtesy a flurry from boundaries from Ambati Rayudu. This is where Chawla stepped in and turned the game… literally.

He began by castling the ominous looking Rayudu for 33 (off only 18 balls) with a wrong that the batsman clearly failed to pick. But, what was to follow was even more impressive and shattering for the batting side. Saurabh Tiwary, one of the finds of the season for Mumbai, was forced to drag his feet out of the crease by Chawla, only to be cleverly stumped.

Chawla had picked up two big wickets in his three overs, and could have easily been taken off. However, here is where Sangakkara played his masterstroke. Noticing that Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t at his fluent best, he threw the ball to Chawla for his last over.

History too has proved that the leg-spinner has had some amount of success against the legend. The combined effect of both these factors was enough to see the back of him. Sachin went for a blind swish on the on-side and had his stumps shattered for an unimpressive 25. From 52 for 1, Mumbai had collapsed to 70 for 4 in a matter of minutes.

It was not all over for Mumbai though. They still had hope from the likes of Kieron Pollard and JP Duminy while the fact the Punjab hadn’t exactly been finishing off the job appropriately would have been at the back of their minds. This was a different outfit though, determined to deliver the killer blows.

And so, Pathan returned to claim R. Sathish and Pollard, the latter again disappointing, perishing after a couple of good hits. Duminy held fort for Mumbai with his 35, the flick six off Brett Lee being his best stroke. But, Love Abhilash’s wonderful last over in which he picked up two wickets saw Punjab go into the break carrying the momentum.

When they returned, Jayawardene caressed the ball to all parts of the boundary and, in no time, Punjab were off like the kings. With Adrian Barath and Sangakkara also contributing, the home side won by an easy 6-wicket margin despite some disciplined bowling from Mumbai, who lost their second consecutive game. It is too early for Sachin’s men to worry, but another hiccup and one would begin to wonder whether they peaked a little early.