Shaun Marsh hits superb 71 to sink Warne's Rajasthan

Shaun Marsh's blistering 71 set up Kings XI Punjab's comprehensive 48-run victory over Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League encounter in Mohali yesterday.

Chasing Punjab's huge total of 195 for seven, Rajasthan were derailed by Praveen Kumar's double strike early on as the visitors finished at 147 for seven.

Batting first after losing the toss, Paul Valthaty and Adam Gilchrist made the most of early let offs - both dismissed off no-balls - as Punjab raced to 50 off just 17 balls.

Valthaty blasted 25 runs off Siddarth Trivedi's second over and Gilchrist matched his partner's aggression with a six and a four off Australian great Shane Warne in the next, before lifting Shaun Tait straight to mid-off.

It was a momentary respite for the Royals as Valthaty and new man Marsh tormented the bowlers with a flurry of boundaries.

Valthaty greeted Warne with a six after the first interval, but the veteran leg-spinner soon removed the right-hander, whose 46 off 31 balls made him the leading run-scorer of the tournament so far with 245.

Marsh and new man Dinesh Karthik added 70 off 38 balls and, at this stage, Rajasthan were certainly staring down the barrel, but Shane Watson and Tait brought the visitors back into the game by dismissing Karthik (21 off 16 balls) and Marsh (71 off 42) respectively.

The momentum then shifted towards Warne's side as Punjab managed just 26 in the last five overs against some tight bowling from the Australian pair, who shared five wickets between them. Rajasthan stuttered at the start of the run-chase, however, losing three early wickets including the dangerous Watson (24 off 16 balls), who became Kumar's second victim.

Piyush Chawla dealt a huge blow by trapping Ross Taylor lbw as Rajasthan limped to 61 for four at the halfway stage, with Stuart Binny and Ashok Menaria left to score at more than 12 per over. The pair added 50 off 29 before Ryan McLaren dismissed Binny (30 off 24), but the asking rate meant Rajasthan were fighting a losing battle. The equation was soon down to 78 required off 24 balls and the chance of an unlikely victory was snuffed out when Menaria (34 off 26 balls) holed out in the 18th over.