Bailey and Perera see Kings XI home

GeorgeBailey

After falling to 77-5 midway through their chase of 145 for victory on Thursday, skipper Bailey and Sri Lankan Perera showed all their international experience to guide their side over the line with ease in the Group B opener in Mohali.

Bailey made an unbeaten 34 while Perera was 35 not out as the duo built on the foundations laid by Glenn Maxwell, who had crashed 43 from 25 balls to get Kings XI ahead of the rate.

After winning the toss, Bailey put the Hurricanes into bat and a tight opening spell saw just 43 runs scored from the first eight overs, for the loss of two wickets.

Captain Tim Paine (11) and Ben Dunk (26) were the men to fall, with Dunk's score typical of what was to come in the remainder of the innings.

The likes of Aiden Blizzard (27), Travis Birt and Jonathan Wells (both 28) all got starts, but failed to go on to make a match-winning score as Perera (2-17 from three overs) and Akshar Patel (1-20 from four) restricted the flow of runs.

The Kings XI reply got off to the worst possible start when Virender Sehwag was caught at third man off the bowling of Doug Bollinger (2-30) from the very first ball.

When Wriddhiman Saha (11), David Miller (nought) and Manan Vohra (18) all departed cheaply, Bailey's men were rocking at 51-4.

Maxwell turned the tide in their favour, however, striking four boundaries and two sixes in typically aggressive fashion, before eventually falling caught behind to a short delivery from Evan Gulbis (1-23).

That left Bailey and Perera with work to do, but they showed their class in striking nine fours and a six between them as Kings XI got their campaign off to the best possible start when victory was secured with 14 balls to spare.

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