AP BANGALORE

KINGS XI Punjab overcame a spate of late run outs to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets on the nextto- last ball Wednesday, exacting revenge for an earlier loss to the same opponent in the Indian Premier League.

Azhar Mahmood claimed the prize wicket of Chris Gayle for 71 in finishing with 3-20 to help restrict Bangalore to 158-5 at Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Punjab then totalled 163-6 in 19.5 overs.

Indian batsmen Nitin Saini (50) and Mandeep Singh (43) ensured Punjab’s chase was on track before captain David Hussey (45) took the team to the brink of victory.

But the run outs of Mahmood, Hussey and Abhishek Nayar in the space of seven deliveries made it a close game after only seven had been needed from the last two overs.

Piyush Chawla smashed a six to seal the win and push Punjab up to fourth in the nine-team standings with five wins and five losses from 10 games. Bangalore is sixth with four wins, five losses and a no-result.

“We tried to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory, but a win is a win,” Hussey said.

“We have confidence now and need to go back and perform in front of our home crowd.” For Bangalore, Gayle displayed his usual repertoire of shots, mostly down the ground, for four sixes and six fours in 42 deliveries ‚ including a six recorded at 111 meters. He added 119 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli, who hit 45 with two sixes and three fours in 42 balls.

But the fall of those two batsmen in successive overs hurt the hosts. Gayle, who was dropped on 39 by substitute David Miller off seamer Parvinder Awana, was caught by the same fielder when he tried to pull a delivery from Mahmood.

Mahmood also removed AB de Villiers (17) and Andrew McDonald (9) in the last over of the innings. Praveen Kumar also bowled well even though he was wicketless. The India seamer, who had missed out on playing at the 2011 World Cup due to an elbow injury, conceded just eight runs off four overs.

Bangalore won the previous game between the two teams at Mohali by five wickets with three balls to spare.