Mohali, May 9 (IANS) Ending their seven-match losing streak, Pune Warriors India Sunday night overpowered Kings XI Punjab by five wickets, with 17 balls to spare, in their Indian Premier League match at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) Stadium here.
Batting first, KXIP made 119/8 in their stipulated 20 overs and Pune Warriors reached 120 in only 17.1 overs for the loss of only five wickets with Yuvraj Singh playing a captain's knock of 35 in just 15 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes.
Yuvraj, who had led Kings XI in the first three editions of the IPL, was particularly harsh on Bhargav Bhatt hitting him for two sixes and two boundaries in the 15th over of the innings.
Riding on the good performances in all three departments of batting, bowling and fielding, Pune Warriors ensured their win.
Manish Pandey (28 off 30 balls) and Jesse Ryder (15 off 18 balls) gave a steady start to Pune Warriors, stitching a 32-run (27 balls) partnership for the first wicket.
Robin Uthappa made 22 (18 balls, three fours) for Pune Warriors. Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly, who was included in Pune Warriors squad in the midst of IPL-4, could not make it to the playing eleven Sunday.
Electing to bat first, KXIP were looking good in the first 10 overs and their scorecard read 80/3 in the 12.4th over but they could not consolidate their innings.
During the last 10 overs of their innings, KXIP managed to make only 48 runs for the loss of six wickets.
For KXIP, Shalabh Srivastava took two wickets while Ryan Harris, Praveen Kumar and Bhargav Bhatt claimed only one wicket each.
Shaun Marsh, with 32 runs off 28 balls, was the top run-scorer for KXIP, while Dinesh Karthik and Paul Valthaty hit 30 (27 balls) and 23 (22 balls).
For Pune Warriors, Wayne Parnell, Mitchell Marsh, Bhubneshwar Kumar and Rahul Sharma took two wickets each.
This was the fifth loss in a row for KXIP. They will now take on Mumbai Indians here Tuesday.