Kings XI Punjab on Sunday received a huge blow despite beating Gujarat Lions by 26 runs at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium, Rajkot. Hashim Amla, their driving force in recent matches, picked up an injury and had to leave the field when Punjab side was defending the total in the second innings.
The injury is concerning and the uncertainty of the nature of the injury has made things worse. Glenn Maxwell, the skipper of the side, failed to answer the question related to the status of Amla, making the fans very nervous.
“The guys have celebrated Hashim’s and Manan’s innings. Hopefully, we can celebrate tonight. I am not sure of actual details but he (on Amla’s injury) was very sore.”
Amla played a huge in Sunday’s win over Lions. The classy right-hander bagged the orange cap after hitting a knock of 65 runs from just 40 balls. The innings helped Punjab set up a challenging total of 188/7 after the opposition elected to bowl first.
Amla’s knock was supported by Shaun Marsh (30 from 24 balls), Axar Patel (34 from 17 balls) and Wriddhiman Saha’s small cameo of 10 off just five deliveries. The Lions, in response, struggled very badly before eventually ending with just 162/7.
The bowling attack led by seamers Sandeep Sharma (2/40) and Mohit Sharma (1/25) along with spinner KC Cariappa (2/24) and Axar Patel (2/36) choked the opposition superbly to make sure the match ended in their favour.
This win now keeps Kings XI Punjab in the race for a place in the top four of the points table.
Amla is playing a highly crucial moment in keeping the quest for the place in the qualifiers alive. In the match against Mumbai Indians, which preceded Sunday’s fixture, saw Amla in top notch rhythm and hammered the MI bowling line-up to score a wonderful unbeaten knock of 104.
His knock helped Punjab post 198 on the board after batting first. Unfortunately, the bowlers could not back him up and fell victim to Mumbai’s highly explosive batting and were handed a crunching eight-wicket loss with 27 balls to spare.
Amla picking up an injury is surely ominous at this stage and Maxi will obviously eager to know the update on his condition.