INDORE: With hindsight, the writing was always on the wall the moment captain Glen Maxwell won the toss for Kings XI Punjab and send Rising Pune Supergiant out to bat first at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on Saturday.
The reason being that the visitors are yet to win after batting first in a match and it will be an unwelcome record that they will carry on into their 17th game in the domestic T20 league after going down to Kings XI by six wickets on this occasion.
All the comparisons were between Maxwell and RPS skipper Steve Smith before the start of the match, and it was Maxwell, the man who was captaining a side for the first time in his career, who emerged on top of his national team captain.
After overseeing a disciplined bowling display that restricted RPS to 163 on a batsmen-friendly track, Maxwell's 44 from 20 and David Miller's 30 from 27 helped Kings XI cross the line with an over to spare and get their season off to a winning start.
RPS's total had looked inadequate to contain Kings XI from the onset and so it proved as Hashim Amla and Manan Vohra got the hosts off to a quick start. Quick wickets of the South African opener and Axar Patel at the middle of the chase could have destabilised them, but Maxwell and Miller restored calm and ensured there were no more casualties.
Earlier, a half-century from English all-rounder Ben Stokes and some late hitting from Manoj Tiwary had helped the visitors steady their ship after the likes of Ajinkya Rahane, Smith and M S Dhoni failed to get going.
Sandeep Sharma had initiated the rout by castling Mayank Agarwal in the very first over before T Natarajan made an instant impact on his IPL debut sending back Rahane in his second delivery. Smith was soon caught near the boundary by Vohra as RPS reeled at 49 for 3.
Dhoni had walked onto the crease receiving rapturous applause from the Indore crowd, but just when a partnership was building between him and Stokes, the former India skipper returned offering a tame return to Swapnil Singh.
Stokes raced to a half-century in 30 balls and would have liked to stay around a little longer but fell to Axar Patel soon after. 30 runs in the final two overs contributed mainly by Tiwary, who hit 40 from 23, helped Pune cross the 160-mark.
Kings XI will stay at Indore to face Royal Challengers Bangalore in their next match on Monday while Pune return to their home ground at the Maharashtra Cricket Association International Stadium to take on Delhi Daredevils on April 11.