Hyderabad, May 1: Indian Premier League debutant Shaun Marsh cracked an elegant, unbeaten 62-ball 84 to propel Kings XI Punjab to a seven-wicket victory over Deccan Chargers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Thursday evening. Kings XI reached their modest target of 165 with seven balls to spare to register their third straight win in the IPL. Matching him at the finish was Sri Lanka skipper Mahela Jayawardene.

Batting looks easy when this Western Australia player is on strike. It was his day right from the word go. He first took a flying catch at point to dismiss Kalyankrishna of Chargers. Marsh then followed up with a doughty effort with the bat, starting with a copybook cover drive off R.P. Singh off the second ball of the innings.

Thereafter he made the Chargers' total look smaller than it was.

While his opening partner Ramnaresh Sarwan was run out off a straight drive of Marsh which ricocheted on to the stumps off Sanjay Bangar's fingers before Kumar Sangakkara and captain Yuvraj Singh lost their wicket to error of judgements, there was no stopping Marsh.

Towards the end of the innings, he even had luck on his side as inside edges missed the stumps and R.P. Singh failed to collect a throw from long off which could have sent Marsh back. His half-century on debut came off the first ball of the 11th over when one of his many beautiful flicks reached the mid-wicket boundary.

The winning stroke however came off Jayawardene's bat. The Sri Lankan played an able ally to his junior, scoring 45 off 23 balls in their 81-run partnership that came off a mere eight overs.

Earlier, the game was set up by another young gun, an Indian. In a game that hardly shows any mercy for bowlers, let alone spinners, Kings XI's Piyush Chawla bowled a spell that made a big difference, bamboozling batsmen with his flight and varying his length.

Chawla's 3/28 was the spell that gave the Kings the upper hand just when the Chargers were looking to bat the Punjab side out of the match, courtesy a superb cameo by V.V.S. Laxman at the top of the order. Laxman showed that class matters, making a 34-ball 48. While he was batting, the Chargers were cruising. But Chawla first removed Herschelle Gibbs, then Laxman. Later in his second spell the leggie winkled out Sanjay Bangar.

The man who did not bow to the pressure created by those wickets and tight bowling by others was Rohit Sharma.

The stylish batsman made a flamboyant 42-ball 76, but even that was not enough to take his team beyond 164/8, which looked and was eventually proved to be inadequate.

Sharma even scored 13 off Chawla's last five balls. It is a pity that e had to end up on the losing side after playing such a sublime innings. Sharma's innings was easier on the eyes and at the same time his assault on the bowlers was more savage than that of Marsh.