Gujarat Lions suffered yet another crushing defeat in their own den in Rajkot yesterday — a 26-run loss to Kings XI Punjab
KXIP's Hashim Amla during his 40-ball 65 vs Gujarat yesterday
Rajkot: Gujarat Lions suffered yet another crushing defeat in their own den in Rajkot yesterday — a 26-run loss to Kings XI Punjab.
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A target of 189 was never going to be easy for the Lions to chase, especially after they lost Brendon McCullum in the very first over. Before they could recover from that shock, Aaron Finch was gone for 13. When captain Suresh Raina was caught brilliantly on long-on by Glenn Maxwell off Axar Patel after making a sparkling 32 (24 balls, 4x4), the Lions were tottering at 70 for 3 in seven overs.
Thereafter, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals. Although Dinesh Karthik remained unconquered on 58 (44 balls, 6x4), it was just not the Lions' day and they finished on 162 for 7.
Earlier, KXIP, riding on yet another brilliant innings by Hashim Amla (65 off 40 balls, 9x4, 2x6), made 188 for 7 after being put in. The Lions made a couple of changes in their bowling attack. Out went Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni and in came Andrew Tye as well as IPL debutants Nathu Singh and Shubham Agarwal.
But it still did not give their attack the much-needed teeth. "We're a bit concerned about our bowling — pace and spin. They (the bowlers) have been trying their best, but somehow they aren't as effective as we want them to be. Even today, we made a couple of changes in the team composition and played young bowlers, so we keep trying," Gujarat Lions' head coach Brad Hodge said later.
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