Bangalore: After a sluggish start in IPL-5, Kings XI Punjab have bounced back into contention with some wins off late and a thrilling victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday was a treat for the spectators. Punjab won yet another away game but only after a severe hiccup at the end.

Punjab started off well as a fine spell by Azhar Mahmood helped them restrict RCB for just 158 after Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli added more than 100 runs for the second wicket and later were inching comfortably towards a win until they ran themselves out thrice within a span of eight balls.

Piyush Chawla, however ensured that all their hard work wasn't wasted as he hit a second last ball six and steered Punjab to a four-wicket win.
Chawla, who became a hero after that splendid six, said, “I am quite happy with our win. I had only that option left. I knew all the fielders were close by to save the single and if I manage to connect the ball with my bat, my work will be done. I managed to do that.”

Meanwhile Kings XI Punjab stand-in-skipper David Hussey said that they nearly gave away the match, but was happy that they won. “We tried to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory ... but a win is a win. We have confidence now. We need to go back and perform in front of our home crowd,” said Hussey.

Losing captain Vettori said, "We need to get back the momentum. We have some big game coming up and will play hard to make it to the semis. The last five overs of both innings were interesting. Lots of wickets, and lots of pressure. Only scoring 30 runs off our last five overs really hurt us."

Azhar Mahmood, who was man-of-the-match, said that he was enjoying his cricket. "Love it, I'm enjoying my cricket. I am quite pleased with my performance in the two big wins that we have registered lately. We like each other’s company and we just believe in ourselves. Everyone's working hard and it's paying off. This man-of-the-match award is for my daughter."