Amla, Axar bring cheer to Kings XI ‘Boys did well to defend low score’
RESPITE South African’s 40ball 65 and Axar’s allround show against Lions give Punjab first win after four losses
The spin bowling duo of Axar Patel and KC Cariappa guided Kings XI Punjab to a comfortable 26-run win over Gujarat Lions at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Sunday.
The two shared four wickets to break the back of Gujarat Lions’ chase. Axar, who has been Kings XI Punjab’s best bowler in the Indian Premier League, again came up with a top performance as he accounted for Lions’ skipper Suresh Raina (32) and the bighitting Dwayne Smith (4).
Cariappa, brought back in the squad, reposed the faith by accounting for Ravindra Jadeja and Akshdeep Nath. They were well supported by seamers Sandeep Sharma, Mohit Sharma and T Natarajan.
Dinesh Karthik, who hit a 44-ball 58, tried his best but with the Lions having already lost their best batsmen, ran out of partners.
Andrew Tye’s 12-ball 22 brightened Lions’ hopes but he was castled by Sandeep which diminished hopes of chasing down Kings XI’s 188. The Lions got off to a bad start, losing Brendon McCullum in the first over as he misread a full toss from Sandeep and was adjudged leg before.
Kings XI batting coach J Arun Kumar had said on the eve of the match about hitting the right areas and that’s what the bowlers did on Sunday.
Whenever the Lions threatened to cut loose, they fell into a trap set by Kings XI skipper Glenn Maxwell.
Raina’s wicket was an example. With the field packed on the off-side, Raina tried to drag one over mid-wicket but holed out to Maxwell, the only man on the legside boundary.
It was Kings XI’s first win after four consecutive defeats and keeps them in hunt for the playoffs. As far as the Lions are concerned, they will need a Herculean effort in their next seven games if they are to harbour hopes of making the playoffs.
Earlier, Hashim Amla’s 40-ball 65 helped Kings XI post 188. It was his second big innings on the trot after the century against Mumbai Indians.
But they couldn’t cross the 200run mark as the Lions’ bowlers bounced back. Going into the second strategic timeout, Kings XI were nicely placed at 114 for two in the 13th over.
Maxwell, after a sedate start, hammered two huge sixes of legspinner Shubham Agarwal in the 14th over to launch Kings XI’s assault. But Agarwal got rid of Amla off the last ball of his fourth over. Two balls later, Maxwell was back in the pavilion after being ruled out leg before. He scored a quickfire 18-ball 31 before falling to Jadeja, who for the second match in a row bowled an economical spell.
Mumbai Indians romped to their sixth straight win in IPL-10 on Saturday, beating Delhi Daredevils by 14 runs in a lowscoring contest. Defending 143run target, Rohit Sharma & Co once again managed to win a contest where the hopes were very slim.
“We have bowled in some absolutely cracking games. It’s been so many games where it may not look like we are going to win, but we showed a lot of maturity… all the young guys showed maturity. In other games, some big players like Kieron Pollard stood up.
“It’s been really nice. It is a nice sense of confidence, but not arrogance, which is very good because in a group like this you know you can back the skills of the boy next to you and you are going to know that he is going to give his 100 per cent,” said Mumbai Indians pacer Mitchell McClenaghan, who starred with 3/24 to restrict Delhi Daredevils to 128/7.
With six wins in seven matches, Mumbai Indians are virtually through to the playoffs. But McClenaghan is not wishing to think that far ahead.
“It’s a long way to go. We have got a very liberal management and a very liberal team. So, fresh start every time. It is important that we don’t get too high or too low… just stay consistent because there are ups and downs in T20 cricket,” said the Kiwi.
Defending a low total, the message was quite clear of what needed to be done. “Obviously, you have to take wickets upfront. The message was very clear, just to do our things. When you think of a sub-par score on a pretty good wicket, the team insists you go out and be too aggressive with the ball and make things happen from the outset.”
Skipper Rohit Sharma hailed the team supporters at Wankhede Stadium and termed them his team’s 12th man. “The crowd support has been amazing; they have rightly been the 12th man for us. The support means a lot; they’ve been coming in large numbers and pick us up when we are down.”