Kings XI Punjab, led by a quickfire 94 from Kumar Sangakkara, easily beat Mumbai Indians in their third Indian Premier League match in Mohali on Friday night.
A 66-run run victory gave them their first success in the tournament after two straight reverses. It was the Mumbai team's third straight reverse.
Put in to bat, Kings XI were propelled by a 54-ball 94 from the Sri Lankan before folding for 182 in their quota of 20 overs. In reply, Mumbai Indians, sorely missing the services of Sachin Tendulkar, caved in without a fight, finishing on 116 for 9 in their twenty overs.
Aussies pace ace Brett Lee set up the demolition, first dismissing the great Sanath Jayasuriya caught and bowled for 1 and then running-out countryman Luke Ronchi (11), breaking the wickets with a splendid throw off his own bowling.
Young Piyush Chawla (2-16), S Sreesanth (2-31) and Irfan Path (2-19) then chipped in with vital wickets to send the Mumbai side crashing.
Earlier,
Sangakkara (94) held one end up almost throughout as wickets fell regularly at the other on a batting-friendly strip at the Punjab Cricket Association ground. He came to the crease after the departure of Pathan but returned to the pavilion in the penultimate over after attempting a big shot off Harbhajan Singh.He tried to loft the bowler to get to his century with a six but found Dhawal Kulkarni in the deep and missed out on a well-deserved hundred.
His 56-ball knock was studded with 13 boundaries and a six.
He was also involved in a 73-run partnership for the second wicket with opener Karan Goel, who was run-out, responding too late to a call from his partner.
Just before departing, Goel suffered a cut on his lip when a quick bouncer from Dwayne Bravo crashed through the grille of his helmet.
Sangakkara raised 17 runs from Shaun Pollock's third over with a flurry of boundaries all over the park and then hit young pacer Kulkarni for 16 runs in the next over to up the tempo.
Skipper Yuvraj Singh (18) came to the crease after the fall of Goel but did not last long, Bravo taking a superb catch off the bowling of Pollock.
Harbhajan Singh (3 for 32) was the most successful bowler for the visitors.
