Just when it looked like Kings XI Punjab had turned the corner with its bowling, the team came up with a listless effort that saw it fail to defend a big total of 189 against Gujarat Lions.
While century-maker Hashim Amla was more forgiving of his team’s efforts in the field, and gave credit to Dwayne Smith’s knock, skipper Glenn Maxwell termed the loss “devastating” and did not mince words when speaking of his bowlers.
Punjab kept conceding at least one boundary every over and had to wait till the 13th over to get one in without it.
Loss of key players
“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,” said the Aussie.
“Unfortunately, we’ll lose Hashim and David Miller now, and we’ll have to look deep into our reserves and regroup,” he added.
The defeat means Punjab has to win all its remaining matches which are against the top three in the points table — Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday, followed by Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant.
Even if Punjab wins the next three, it will need to pray that defending champion Sunrisers Hyderabad loses at least one, if not both, its remaining matches.
The well-oiled Knight Riders, despite a hiccup with two consecutive defeats, got back on track with a thumping win against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday.
The former champion has 16 points from 12 matches and would like to seal its place in the playoffs here before its last match against Mumbai.
The injury issues to the team also seems to be abating just at the right time.
The side got a boost with the return of Chris Lynn on Sunday, and wicketkeeper-batsman Robin Uthappa, who missed the last two games, could be back on Tuesday.
Sandeep fined
After the high of a Man-of-the-Match-winning performance against RCB, Punjab’s Sandeep Sharma, who lost his cool on Sunday, was fined 50% of his match fee for showing dissent against an umpire’s decision.
The incident happened in the fifth ball of the fifth over during Gujarat’s chase.
After Dwayne Smith took a single off the previous ball, Sandeep decided to come around the wicket to the left-handed Ishan Kishan.
Umpire Nand Kishore called it a no-ball as he felt Sandeep did not inform him of the change of angle. Sandeep had an argument and snatched his cap away from the official at the end of the over.
