Mohali: Kings XI Punjab put up an impressive bowling effort to restrict Hobart Hurricanes to 144 for six in the Champions League T20 tournament here today.
Left-arm spinner Akshar Patel (1/20) along with seamers Parvinder Awana (1/25) and Thisara Perera (2/17) made life tough for the opposition batsmen. However, a fifty two run stand from Travis Birt (28 runs off 21 balls) and Jonathan Wells (28 off 18) helped Hurricanes recover to post a competitive total on a two-paced surface.
Both teams are playing CLT20 for the first time.
Kings were on the money right away after putting the opposition in to bat. The successful opening pair of Ben Dunk and Tim Paine in the Big Bash back home struggled for runs.
Patel, who helped Kings reach the IPL-7 final, provided the first breakthrough by finding the stumps of Hurricanes skipper Paine (11) with a fast straighter one.
Dunk (25)'s dismissal made it 43 for two in eight overs. The southpaw went for a big one off Perera but his high mistimed hit found the safe hands of Glenn Maxwell at deep cover.
Aiden Blizzard (27 off 18) then hit some lusty blows to give the innings a push before getting caught in the deep at a wrong time. Hurricanes were in further trouble with their experienced foreign recruit Shoaib Malik (14) departing to leave visitors at 78 for four in the 13th over. The Pakistani all-rounder tried to smack leg-spinner Karanveer Singh on one knee but could only manage to find Kings captain Bailey at midwicket.
Birt and Wells then forged a vital stand to bail the team out of trouble.
While Wells enthralled the sparse Mohali crowd with some pure cricketing shots, Birt displayed brute force.
Birt took a particular liking to Karanveer, smashing him for two sixes in one over. Just when they were looking more and more dangerous, Wells was run out.
Birt fell on the penultimate ball of the innings but his effort was enough to set up a fighting score.
