McCullum exit dent Lions’ chances further
Punjab look to make the most of good form that saw them register two consecutive wins in IPL
New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum has been ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League season with a hamstring strain, heaping fresh misery on his Gujarat Lions team.
The dashing opener injured his left hamstring during the seven-wicket defeat against Delhi Daredevils on Thursday — a result that saw the Lions being knocked out of contention for the playoffs.
McCullum, 35, is currently the second-highest run-getter for Lions this season with 320 runs from 11 outings.
“Injuries are not ideal but part of our sport. Compressed tournament & long travel can be gruelling,” the former Kiwi skipper posted on his official Twitter account late Friday. “Sorry for not being there all the way.”
The Lions had reached the playoff stage in the last IPL but struggled this season, managing just three wins in 11 matches. They are scheduled to play three more matches, starting with one against a resurgent Kings XI Punjab on Sunday.
Kings XI find themselves at the fifth spot in the IPL standings after registering two consecutive wins — against Delhi Daredevils by 10 wickets last Sunday and then a 19-run win against bottom-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru on Friday.
Just three wins
Gujarat Lions on the other hand, have just three wins from 11 games with six points to languish at the penultimate spot.
On Friday, all-rounder Axar Patel smashed a 17-ball 38 and then followed it up with 3/11, to keep the Punjab side’s chances of qualifying for the play-offs alive.
South African Hashim Amla has been their highest runscorer with 316 runs, which included a century against Mumbai Indians while Martin Guptill, Shaun Marsh, Manan Vohra, Wriddhiman Saha all have chipped in from time to time but they need to be more consistent to lend depth to KXIP batting.
Skipper Glenn Maxwell is due for a big score after getting under 200 runs in 10 matches, with an unbeaten 44 being his highest score this season.
On the bowling front, medium pacer Sandeep Sharma’s brilliant three-wicket haul blew away RCB’s top-order to set up the win for Punjab before Axar cleaned up the middle order with his left-arm spin.
Skipper Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik have done the bulk of their scoring for Lions and with the likes of Ishan Kishan, Aaron Finch, and Dwayne Smith in their line-up, Gujarat have the ability to tear apart even the strongest of the bowling attack.
But more often than not, it is their inexperienced bowling unit which has cost the side dearly with the likes of Shardul Thakur, James Faulkner, Basil Thampi and Ravindra Jadeja failing to live up to the expectations of the side.