Mohali, April 25: Desperate for a win for a week, Yuvraj Singh finally had a reason to cheer as Kings XI Punjab registered their first victory in the Indian Premier League, overrunning the Mumbai Indians by 66 runs in their T20 clash at the PCA Stadium here on Friday. Adding polish to the performance was his stunning catch to see off dangerman Shaun Pollock.

Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara showed what a potent player he is with the bat in this format, with a 56-ball 94 (13 4s, one 6) helping his side post 182 all out in 20 overs. Mumbai Indians, in reply, could only muster 116/9 with no real contribution of note.

The fact that Sachin Tendulkar skipped this game too further added to their misery.

The home team were clinical in their display on all fronts. After the Sangakkara show set up the game up nicely, the pace-spin combine of Brett Lee and Piyush Chawla finished the job, conceding a total of just 25 runs and taking three wickets in their eight overs.

Mumbai Indians took to Punjab’s daunting target with an unusually sluggish start, putting on just 39 in the first six overs. With a quick pitch to aid him, Lee bowled his heart out in the first session, often crossing the 150 kmph mark. Only two runs came of his first over with both Sanath Jayasuriya and Luke Ronchi failing miserably to put bat to ball.

Jayasuriya eventually fell in the third over to the Aussie speedster and that opened the floodgates. From then on the visitors were never in the hunt with too many dot balls being played and too many wickets falling.

The run-rate was over 11 when Pollock joined Saurabh Tiwary in the ninth over. The duo swung their bats for a feisty 26, meshing paddles and pulls with aplomb.Tiwary fell in the 13th over and a flurry of wickets followed. By the time the South African all-rounder fell to S. Sreesanth in the 15th over the chase was as good as doen.

For the hosts though, their start wasn’t an ideal one. They lost the toss and then lost all-rounder Irfan Pathan early who just faced three balls. Pollock beat the bat of the Sangakarra for three balls in a row in the second over, with the last one almost kissing the edge of the bat.

What followed thereafter was sweet revenge. He ended the over with a smashing cover drive off the South African bowler, dispatched Nehra to the long-on boundary with a ferocious straight hit and then pocketed 18 runs off Pollock’s next over.

His strokeplay, all grace, brought a combined total of 35 runs came in overs four and five for his side. And at the half-way mark Kings XI were 94/2, just six short of the tournament record set a night earlier by Rajasthan Royals.

Sangakarra’s cool head and ability to put away the average deliveries kept runs ticking over on a speedy outfield and his handling of the medium pacers were superb. Musavir Khote’s military medium-pace yielded 22 off his two overs, while Pollock conceded 40 in his four.

His compatriots too found it hard to match the Lankan’s intensity. Yuvraj fizzled spectacularly holing out in the deep, trying to go for a big hoick.

Much was expected from Ramnaresh Sarwan who replaced James Hopes for the game, but could not recreate the Aussie all-rounder’s 33-ball 77 blitz which the latter hit a week ago against Chennai Super Kings.