Mystery spinner Sunil Narine took the first hat-trick of the current edition before being clobbered by Manpreet Gony who took Kings XI Punjab to a respectable 159 for seven in the Pepsi Indian Premier League, here today.
Vindicating skipper Gautam Gambhir's decision to field first, Narine (3/33) along with Sri Lankan Sachitra Senanayake (2/28) bamboozled the Kings XI batsmen with their variations before Gony (42, 18 balls) thrashed the West Indian for 23 runs in the penultimate over to bring home team back in the match.
Narine achieved the landmark with his last three deliveries of the 15th over of the innings. First, he bowled a fast off-break that David Hussey (12) found very little room to play the cut-shot.
Veteran Azhar Mahmood (0) closed his bat face off the very next delivery as the leading edge looped up for the bowler to complete an easy return catch.
The 'hat-trick delivery' was easily the best of the lot as domestic batsman Gurkeerat Singh (0) had absolutely no clue about the delivery that turned the other way to peg the off-stump back. The Punjab youngster played for the turn and was foxed in the process.
Gony came in with Kings XI tottering at 99 for six and it soon became 109 for seven with David Miller (20) back in the dug-out. However the big-bodied Gony unleashed some booming shots as KKR bowlers went for 41 runs in 3.1 overs.
The former India pacer hit four boundaries and three huge sixes including two fours and two sixes in Narine's final over.
Earlier, Kings XI captain Adam Gilchrist's (7) woeful form in the current edition continued as Senanayake trapped him leg before with a straighter one in his very first over, which was the fourth of the innings. The score was 24 at that time.
Pint-sized Mandeep Singh (41, 30 balls 6x4) and young Manan Vohra (17) however negotiated the KKR bowlers confidently adding 37 runs for the second wicket before both were out in quick succession.
