Mohali: Glenn Maxwell-led Kings XI Punjab suffered a heartbreaking loss against Gujarat Lions in Match 47 of Indian Premier League 2017, where they suffered a six-wicket loss. After putting a decent total of 189 runs on board, Punjab bowlers failed to get early breakthroughs as Dwayne Smith and Ishan Kishan added 91 runs for the opening wicket in just 9.3 overs.
Batting first, South African opener Hashim Amla once again played a mind-blowing knock and went on to score his second century of the series.
After losing Martin Guptill in the first over itself, Amla and Shaun Marsh stitched a brilliant 125-run stand for second wicket to resurrect the innings. Towards the end, Amla and Maxwell hit some lusty blows much to the delight of the local crowd.
However, in reply, the Lions got off to a terrific start and Amla’s second century of the series went in vain.
Punjab had a horrendous outing in the field where they dropped some crucial catches, including one of Smith, who was dropped by David Miller at mid-off.
Maxwell put the blame of the defeat on the team’s pathetic fielding effort, saying the dropped catches hurt the team badly.
“Pretty devastating,” Maxwell said after the loss.
“189 was enough, the bowlers and fielders let us down. We dropped three crucial catches. We haven’t won a heap of games in a row. We’ve had to scrap.”
Maxwell added that since Amla and Miller will now leave for national commitments, Punjab will have to regroup themselves to reach the play-offs.
“Unfortunately, we’ll lose Hashim and David Miller now, and we’ll have to look deep in our reserves and regroup,” he added.
The South African side is scheduled to play 3 One Day Internationals along with two practice matches against England. The warm-up games will be played on the 19th and 21st of May while the series starts on 24th May.
Punjab are currently on 10 points from 11 matches, and will have to win their next three matches to make it through to the play-offs.
Source: Zee News