Its not everyday you outscore and outpace Adam Gilchrist two games in a row. It's also not everyday that you join Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the run-getters list in a tournament. Paul Valthaty is having a special time in the IPL and Kings XI Punjab are benefitting from it.
After 120 against Chennai in the last game, Valthaty took 4-29 bowling seam-ups and then hammered 75 in 47 to give Deccan Chargers yet another defeat at home. Deccan's respectable score of 165 seemed 50 runs short when Gilchrist (61) and Valthaty smashed all their bowlers with no prejudice.
The openers added 136 in 14 overs, got out, but left enough overs for the middle order to wrap up the chase smoothly.
Valthaty has ensured he won't be a one-hit wonder at the IPL. He was the seventh bowler used by Gilchrist today. He bowled split-finger slower balls and claimed the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan (45), Bharat Chipli (14), Daniel Christian (30) and Amit Mishra (0).
That wasn't enough for the cricketer from Mumbai. So he took two fours off Dale Steyn to start his innings. Then he slashed Ishant Sharma for six. And when MS Gony came on for his first over, Valthaty took four fours and a six from it.
You have to be playing a special hand when Gilchrist turns over the strike to you. At one point Gilchrist was on 15 to Valthaty's 39. The Punjab captain caught up with him, going past his fifty first.
The feature of their batting was their monstrous hitting. Pace or spin, Deccan's bowlers were being regularly deposited several rows back into the crowd, sometimes in the second tier.
In the course of the onslaught, Valthaty equalled Tendulkar's tally of 201 runs in the tournament but got out next ball.
Gilchrist and Valthaty have now emerged as the most destructive pair in the tournament alongside Delhi's David Warner and Virender Sehwag, who're yet to have a good game together. If Punjab keep up this act, and Gilchrist is known to mould winning teams, they could go all the way this year.
Kings XI Punjab166 for 2 (Valthaty 75, Gilchrist 61) beat Deccan Chargers 165 for 8 (Dhawan 45, Sangakkara 35, Valthaty 4-29, McLaren 2-33) by eight wickets
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