Valthaty and Marsh destroy Royals !

Punjab posted the highest score in IPL 2011, 195/7.

Valthaty and Shaun Marsh hit 3 sixes each and Valthaty became the wearer of the orange cap, overtaking Sachin. He has now scored 247 runs against Sachin's 236 !

In 15 overs, Punjab were 169/2, but then Rajastan came back into the game. In the first five overs, Punjab blasted 71/1 !

Praveen Kumar shot out Watson for 24 and Asnodkar for 9. Dravid was bowled by Harris for 8.

Gilchrist was bowled by a no ball from Siddharth Trivedi and Valthaty was caught in the slips off a no ball from Tait ! These two reprieves cost the Royals dear as both Gilchrist and Valthaty exploded and punished their bowlers to all parts of the field.

Valthaty blasted Trivedi for three fours and two mighty sixes. In that over, Trivedi yielded 25 runs and suddenly Punjab had posted 50 on the board in fastish time. When Gilchrist fell, Valthaty slowed down but Shaun Marsh, in superb form , continued to make the scoreboard moving at a fantastic pace.

Warne thought when he commenced the 14th over that he could bring the Roylas back into the game, but Marsh smote him for three magnificent sixes. In the 16th over, Punjab was 175 and Pretty, pretty, Preity was beaming. But then Royals came back into the game with some restrictive bowling and Punjab could only score 20 runs more in the last four overs !

Warne managed to dismiss Valthaty, but not before the 28 year old had run bersek, smashing 46 off 31 balls. Shane Warne, who conceded 50 runs off 4 overs, did lose his cool. He sledged Shaun Marsh ( who hit him for three consecutive sixes ) and then gave a bit of his mind to D Karthik, who refused to walk, after being given out. Warne's girlfriend Liz Hurley was watching the match and her presence could not cool the genius Aussie leggie !

RR could only muster 147/7, against some good bowling by Praveen Kumar and Bhatt. Rahul Dravid, after hitting two excellent fours, was yorked by Ryan Harris ( Astrologically, his 8th & 3rd lord's period is troubling him and as such he should be excused). Praveen Kumar nailed Asnodkar with a full toss. Watson hit 4 elegant fours, but then Praveen Kumar induced him to top edge a pull. Then Chawla struck with a superb beauty to trap Ross Taylor and the match was almost over !

Shaun Marsh was exuberant that his side had defeated Warne's team. "It's nice feeling. We had a great win. All the boys played well, and good feeling at the moment. First time I have got a few off him (Warne), usually he gets me out pretty early," said the elegant left hander. "I do enjoy playing here, great place to play cricket. Having a lot of fun at the moment."

Gilchrist was enthused that his side, Punjab had scored its third consecutive win and jumped to third place in the IPL Points Table.

"Three in a row after a poor start. Been a bit of a stop-start tournament, seems like the tournament is just beginning. Fine line, but 2 for 5 is a fair distance from being 0 for 40. Paul backed himself, and Shaun was brilliant," said the flashy Aussie. "Not too bad [his own form]. It's all helter skelter, don''t know much about form in this form of the game.

Warne said that if his bowlers had not bowled the no balls, it would have been a totally different story.

"Not the ideal start. Two no-balls could have been two wickets. After that we lost our way. Gilchrist and Valthaty played really well. We pulled them back a bit, but we got off to an ordinary start ourselves," Warne said.

He said he lost his cool when both Trivedi and Tait bowled no balls. "I was trying to stay calm [when the no-balls happened], but it's not easy. Something you can't do in Twenty20 cricket."
"We got outplayed, we didn't do a lot of basic stuff well." said the formidable Aussie leggie !