David Miller, with assist from Akshar Patel, drives Kings XI Punjab in CLT20

David Miller and Akshar Patel supplied a 47-run partnership in just 3.1 overs on Saturday to get them past Barbados Tridents with two deliveries remaining in the Champions League Twenty20.

By the time Akshar Patel stepped in for Kings XI Punjab on Saturday night, what looked to be a relatively easy chase was suddenly in some measure of doubt.

David Miller had joined Virender Sehwag for the start of the 10th over, with Kings XI at 95 for three. With the last 10 overs they would need exactly 80 runs, by no means guaranteed but certainly reasonable to expect given Miller and Sehwag at the crease with George Bailey and Thisara Perera not far behind.

Then Barbardos Tridents’ pair of dangerous spinners, Jeevan Mendis and Ashley Nurse, combined to drop Sehwag afer just an eight-run partnership with Miller, George Bailey on only seven and Perera for a duck.

By the time of Perera’s extraction midway through the 17th over, Punjab had gotten only 36 of those 80 runs from 6.3 overs. And on came Patel, a 20-year-old spinner who didn’t even bat in their Champions League Twenty20 opening win against Hobart Hurricanes.

With three boundaries and a six, though, the left-handed batter provided 23 runs from only nine balls and Miller scored exactly half of his 46 runs in an unbeaten 47-run partnership that got the job done with a pair of deliveries reamining.

The pair ramped up the run rate to 14.84 in their 3.1 overs together after the Kings XI chase had stalled out as Miller failed to be joined by a stable partner through the middle of the innings.

It was a win that placed the Indian Premier League side at the top of CLT20 Group B, with two wins from their two matches so far.

Sehwag, to his credit, finished at 31 after navigating the opening innings with Manan Vohra (27), Wriddiham Saha (14) and Glenn Maxwell (16).

Mendis was a terror on the lineup, taking a pair of wickets and keeping them to just 18 runs from four overs. Nurse took the one wicket for 32 runs in four overs, as well.

Ravi Rampaul, despite a pair of earlier wickets for the Tridents, leaked out a damaging 50 runs in his four overs.

Raymon Reifer had went for a knock of 60 and Dilshan Munaweera a 50 to spearhead Barbados’ innings, but the rest of the lineup weren’t able to provide enough in support for a total that could hold off Kings XI.

Perera, despite the disappointing turn on strike, claimed two wickets for 15 runs in three overs for a nice bowling spell, while Parvinder Awana took three for 46 runs in four overs.

For Patel, his batting provided redemption for a forgettable bowling spell in which he was hit for 42 runs in four overs without any wickets taken.

Kings XI will next play Northern Knights on Friday, in a match that could pit two unbeaten sides against one another if the New Zealanders beat Hobart Hurricanes on Tuesday night.

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