THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
HYDERABAD, India — Shaun Marsh hit 43 as Kings XI Punjab pulled off a shock 76-run victory over Mumbai Indians, and younger brother Mitchell Marsh’s 4-25 helped Pune Warriors post a six-wicket win over Deccan Chargers in the IPL on Tuesday.
Shaun Marsh helped Punjab post a competitive 163-8 despite Munaf Patel’s five-for. In reply, Mumbai was knocked over for 87.
The win lifted Punjab from last to move above Deccan with eight points from 10 games. Mumbai is assured of a playoff berth with 16 from 11.
Earlier, Deccan was restricted to 136-8 before Pune scored 137-4 in 18.2 overs to remain with an outside chance at eight points from 11 games.
Deccan is out of contention with six points from 11 matches.
"It was one of the best tracks we have played on, but it did just did not go our way," said Tendulkar, Mumbai’s skipper. "It was just one of those days and we lost all those wickets."
Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals after seamer Praveen Kumar struck early to finish with 2-19.
Left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt cleaned up the tail with 4-22, while West Indian batsman Kieron Pollard top-scored with 17.
In a rare game belonging to bowlers, Patel had held the early spotlight.
Patel, a key member of India’s World Cup-winning team, bowled a disciplined line to take 5-21, including the important wickets of Shaun Marsh (34 balls, five fours) and Dinesh Karthik (31).
He was backed by some fine fielding, especially Pollard, who took two superb catches in the deep.
In the first match of the day, Mitchell Marsh struck at regular intervals to help restrict the home side.
Pune opener Manish Pandey struck 49 off 42 balls while former India skipper Sourav Ganguly, playing his first match for the new team after being signed last week, made an unbeaten 32.
"Before coming out to bat, I said to my teammates that this is probably the toughest day of my career," Ganguly said. "I haven’t picked up a cricket bat for five months and came here with zero confidence."
Pune wrested the early initiative through Shaun Marsh after Deccan elected to bat.
The Australian removed opener Ravi Teja and South Africa allrounder JP Duminy for 30 apiece. Teja played a delivery on to the stumps while Duminy was caught by Rahul Sharma at long-on.
Sunny Sohal was caught behind and Amit Mishra taken at mid-off as the batsmen failed in their bids to score off Marsh, the son of former Australia batsman Geoff Marsh and whose 27-year-old brother Shaun Marsh was to top score in the latter match of the day.
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Scores:
Pune Warriors 137-4 in 18.2 overs (Manish Pandey 49, Jesse Ryder 35, Sourav Ganguly 32 not out; Daniel Christian 2-21), def. Deccan Chargers 136-8 in 20 overs (Ravi Teja 30, Jean-Paul Duminy 30; Mitchell Marsh 4-25).
Kings XI Punjab 163-8 in 20 overs (Shaun Marsh 43, Dinesh Karthik 31; Munaf Patel 5-21), def. Mumai Indians 87 all out in 12.5 overs (Bhargav Bhatt 4-22, Praveen Kumar 2-19).