Shaun Marsh provided a glimpse of Australia's batting future as he anchored the Kings XI Punjab to a seven-wicket win over Deccan Chargers on his Indian Premier League debut on Thursday night.
The 24-year-old left-hander will join the Australia team following the IPL for their one-day series in the Caribbean next month - his first international tour.
That call-up came on the back of a domestic season that earned him Western Australia's player-of-the-year award, and he proved he was just as capable on the slower Indian wickets as on the harder surface of the WACA Ground with an unbeaten knock of 84 from 62 balls.
After opening the innings Marsh displayed a cool head under pressure, preferring to pick the gaps in the field than rely on heavy hitting.
He hit 11 fours and one six in his innings and in Mahela Jayawardene (45 not out) he found a partner equally adept at his craft as they passed their victory target of 164 for eight with seven balls remaining.
Eleven of the 18 games played at the Ranjiv Gandhi International Stadium have been won by the team batting second and with that in mind King Punjab XI captain Yuvraj Singh won the toss an elected to field.
VVS Laxman survived an early scare when he was dropped by Kumar Sangakkara in the opening over, however the hosts did claim the key early wickets of Adam Gilchrist (six) and Herschelle Gibbs (seven).
Laxman was let off the hook a second time, Marsh dropping a hot chance off Piyush Chawla at mid-wicket, before he finally fell to the young Indian leg-spinner, spooning a catch to Yuvraj at cover for 48 from 34 balls.
The home innings then threatened to descend into chaos as they lost three wickets for eight runs to be 98 for six after 14 overs.
However, Rohit Sharma proved his own rising talent with an unbeaten 76 from 42 balls to help his team to a defendable 164 for eight.
The Kings XI reply began brightly with Ramnaresh Sarwan and Marsh trading boundaries before the West Indian was unluckily run out at the non-striker's end, a Marsh straight drive tipped onto the stumps by bowler Sanjay Bangar, for 15 off 15 balls.
Sangakkara (three) and Yuvraj (14) followed in quick succession, but Marsh remained cool under the pressure of falling wickets to nudge the ball around the field.
The West Australian brought up his half-century from 35 balls and with Jayawardene put on an unbeaten 81 runs to guide the visitors to their third consecutive victory and leave the Chargers languishing at the wrong end of the table with just one win.
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