Karthik blitz keeps Punjab in race

Kings XI Punjab beat the Kochi Tuskers Kerala by six wickets in a boundary-rich encounter at the IPL's newest venue, Indore, keeping their hopes of making the play-offs alive, reports Cricinfo. Emphatic batting from Dinesh Karthik and Shaun Marsh, who put on a 111-run stand for the third-wicket, made the difference on a surface that was good for batting, in a stadium with short boundaries and a quick outfield. Karthik and Marsh's bruising combination nullified the earlier efforts of Mahela Jayawardene. The Kochi captain had played a classy innings of 76 in which he alternated effortlessly between elegant flicks, casual lofted strokes and crunching blows to propel the Kochi ship to 178. Adam Gilchrist and Paul Valthathy started the chase in measured fashion against RP Singh and Sreesanth but with the target they had to chase, they could not afford to hang around for too long. Valthaty began the assault, smashing RP for two sixes off short balls before being bowled with the full one. Gilchrist continued watchfully and was out in RP's next over, trying to pull over midwicket but only succeeding in getting an edge through to Parthiv Patel, leaving Punjab in trouble. Kings XI Punjab 181 for 4 (Dinesh Karthik 69, S Marsh 42, RP Singh 4-25) beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 178 for 7 (Jayawardene 76, Bipul Sharma 2-32) by six wickets.