Valthaty leads charge with bat and ball
Put into bat, Deccan Chargers scored 165 for eight in their Indian Premier League match against Kings XI Punjab today. Scorecard
When it rains, it pours. And Paul Valthaty couldn't agree more.
The 27-year-old Mumbaikar was living in obscurity for the last five years before a touch of Adam Gilchrist masterstroke turned him from an unknown entity to a match winner. If it was the devil may care approach to his batting that stunned defending champions Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday, Valthaty came up with an all round performance on Saturday to force Deccan Chargers into abject surrender.
With the Chargers batsmen looking good for a total around 200, Gilchrist summoned the medium pace of Valthaty in the 11th over. And his four wickets set the ball rolling for yet another thumping win for Kings XI.
Bowling for the first time in the competition, he took 4/29 and then teamed up with Gilchrist for a 136-run opening stand to help the visitors chase down the 166 run target.
Slow death
Valthaty's introduction to the bowling crease was a last ditch effort by Gilchrist after Chargers had raced to 88 for 2 in 10. He responded by sending back opener Shikhar Dhawan (45) in his first over and then foxed Bharat Chipli in the next. Valthaty relied on slower ones to check the scoring rate and rounded off his tally with two wickets of his last two deliveries.
"On a small ground with short boundaries I have to have some variations. At my pace, of around 110 kph, I need to have something up my sleeve," he said at the break.
Valthaty (75 off 47 balls) responded by hitting Manpreet Gony for four fours and a six off the very next over. He began with a short arm pull to mid wicket and then a boundary and six over mid off before rounding off the tally with a boundary at the same spot. Gilchrist joined the party against his former team, hitting three sixes and five boundaries in his 46-ball 61. By the time Valthaty was out, victory was a formality.
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