Mohali, May 13: David Hussey led a dramatic fightback with an unbeaten 35-ball 65 as Kings XI Punjab defeated Deccan Chargers by four wickets and kept alive their hopes in the Indian Premier League, here today.
Chasing an imposing target of 191, Punjab came back after being reduced to 56 for three in the eight over through skipper Hussey and youngster Gurkeerat Singh's 29 off 12 balls towards the end.
Needing 16 off the last over, Gurkeerat slammed Manpreet Gony over deep midwicket for a six and then got a four through sweeper cover. Gurkeerat finished the chase in style, pulling the bowler over the fine-leg region.
This was Punjab's seventh win and they would hope for positive results in their three coming matches.
Hussey hit four fours and five sixes during his swashbuckling knock and was solely responsible for the stunning win, which undid Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White's good work earlier in the day.
Dhawan and White struck brisk half-centuries as the Chargers posted an imposing 190 for four after they elected to bat at the PCA Stadium.
Hussey, however, had other ideas as he launched into the Chargers attack with a flurry of fours and sixes from the word go. The Aussie's knock was even more special as Punjab needed more than 100 runs in the last 10 overs with the top four back in the pavilion.
Chasing an imposing target, Kings XI failed to get the desired start, losing Nitin Saini and Shaun Marsh with just 26 runs on the board.
Mandeep Singh chugged on for a while before getting out for 28 off 20 balls to leave Punjab in some sort of trouble.
Azhar Mahmood struck a 20-ball 31 but the hosts needed more than that from the allrounder at that point of time.
Punjab were lucky that they found their man in Hussey.
