A clutch of cameos from their batsmen, including the under-fire pair of Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh, pushed Kings XI Punjab to a fighting total in Mohali. Ravi Bopara, pushed down to No. 4, chipped in with a well-paced knock to ensure the momentum wasn't lost though both Sangakkara and Yuvraj were dismissed just as they looked set to explode.
Bangalore's bowlers were spot-on with the new ball after a couple of matches of being ragged. Praveen Kumar got the ball to move a touch and tied down Shaun Marsh in the first over before Vinay Kumar, opening instead of Dale Steyn, had Marsh poking to Rahul Dravid at first slip in the next over.
Sangakkara, though, invigorated the innings with a couple of classy square drives and a whip past square leg for four. Steyn, the spearhead, was brought in but he too leaked boundaries, and a string of fours from opener Manvinder Bisla pushed Punjab to 26 for 1 after five overs. The pair kept averaging a boundary an over, and had added 63 runs without much trouble when Bisla fell attempting a scoop off Anil Kumble, being done in by a straight one.
Still, Sangakkara was looking the most fluent he has all tournament, and continued to find the gaps. A controlled, superbly timed lofted off-drive of Kevin Pietersen's first ball and a flat-batted bash down the ground kept the runs coming.
Till then, Steyn had had a poor game, being expensive in his first over and a misfield at the boundary his only contributions. However, he made a crucial intervention, removing the ominous Sangakkara in the first ball when he returned for the 12th over.
That brought in the man in the eye of the controversy that engulfed the build-up to this game - Yuvraj. Steyn rattled him with a bunch of short balls, including a 151kmh bouncer that struck Yuvraj on the back shoulder.
Yuvraj, though, showed glimpses of his destructive best, swatting Jacques Kallis into the crowd behind midwicket and then picking a Kumble googly early and clubbing it beyond long-on for six. With Bopara offering solid support, and Bangalore presenting a bunch of full tosses, Yuvraj powered Punjab ahead but just when the fans were getting ready for a feast of hitting from Yuvraj, he miscued a legstump ball to midwicket in the 18th over
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