Amla's ton goes in vain as Punjab's playoff hopes suffer a setback

Sport360 staff 00:07 08/05/2017

For the second time this season, a century from Hashim Amla [104 off 60 balls] went in vain as Kings XI Punjab went down to Gujarat Lions by six wickets at the IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on Sunday.

After being put into bat, Punjab lost Martin Guptill [2 off 5 balls] in the first over, but Amla and Shaun Marsh [58 off 43 balls] managed to put on a century stand to give a brilliant platform for the hosts.

After the 125-run partnership between the duo ended, Amla stepped on the accelerator – scoring 40 runs from the next 14 deliveries he faced to bring up his second ton of the season. The South African hit eight fours and five sixes during his knock.

Skipper Glenn Maxwell cleared the fence twice during his unbeaten cameo of 20 from 11 balls as the Kings XI ended with 189-3 in their 20 overs.

Dhawal Kulkarni, who was making a return to the Gujarat playing XI, was very impressive with the ball – conceding just 24 runs and taking the wicket of Marsh during his four-over spell.

In reply, West Indian batsman Dwayne Smith [74 off 39 balls] was in a destructive mood as he took the attack to the bowlers right away.

There was a moment of controversy when the umpire called a no-ball on Sandeep Sharma, with the reasoning being that the bowler did not inform him before changing his line from over to around the wicket.

This irked Sandeep and Maxwell as both got into a lengthy argument with the umpire. Soon after, the Kings XI became a little sloppy in the field as two catches of Smith were dropped and that proved to be very costly.

Smith went on to notch up his first fifty in this season’s IPL as Ishan Kishan [29 off 24 balls] and he put on a 91-run partnership for the opening wicket.

There were some hiccups at the end after the dismissal of Suresh Raina [39 off 25 balls] late on, but Dinesh Karthik [35* off 23 balls] was on hand to guide Gujarat to just their fourth win this season.

BRIEF SCORES

Kings XI Punjab 189-3, 20 overs [Amla 104, Marsh 58, Kulkarni 1-24] lost to Gujarat Lions 192-4, 19.4 overs [Smith 74, Raina 39, Sandeep 2-29] by six wickets.

Player of the Match – Dwayne Smith.

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