Confident Kings Stroll On

It was a slightly difficult day at the office in Mohali today. For once the Deccan Chargers’ batting line-up worked more or less as planned, with Gilchrist, Gibbs and Sharma scoring 144 between them. A final total of 175 would be very challenging for most sides to chase. Not so the Kings XI. Marsh and Sangakkara got them off to an excellent start, and though they faltered a little along the way the panic all came from the Chargers. Scott Styris in particular will rue being hit for 16 in the nineteenth over, including two sixes. I’m very impressed with little Piyush Chawla. He’s being touted as the future of Indian spin bowling, and certainly seems very capable, but he has proved a cool and competent batsman as well. For a tiny nineteen-year-old he hits very big indeed.