This match was between the table toppers vs the team that is at the bottom of the table. While this match won’t have any great impact on the league table, no matter who wins. But if Kings XI Punjab don’t get their combination right now, it might get too late in this tournament to make a comeback later on.
Suresh Raina won the toss and chose to field. This added more pressure on the Kings as this tournament has supported the team chasing more often. Kings XI had a new captain in Murali Vijay today and as he came in to bat – Vijay played a captain’s inning as he scored 55 runs. But as the openers got out, wickets fell in quick succession and then the ex-captain Miller came to the rescue. In the end, the team got all-out for 154 with a ball to spare.
Lions coming in to chase lost Brendon McCullum early and Raina too departed in the powerplay. Both wickets were picked up by Mohit Sharma. Axar Patel came in to bowl the 7 over the match and this over turned the match around completely. First Dwayne Smith got run-out and his last two deliveries of the over was back to back wickets Dinesh Karthik and Dwayne Bravo. Axar got back to bowl for the 11th over and in the first ball took the wicket of Jadeja, thus completing his Hat-trick and Lions were in more trouble.
Here’s a list of interesting records and stats from this match –
Ninth captain of Kings XI Punjab – Murali Vijay became the ninth captain in the history of IPL to lead Kings XI Punjab. Previous captains of KXIP are George Bailey, Adam Gilchrist, Yuvraj Singh, Kumar Sangakkara, David Hussey, David Miller, Jayawardene, and Sehwag.
Fifty of Captaincy Debut – Murali Vijay became the 3rd captain in the history of IPL to score a 50 captaincy debut. Other two captains to do so are Adam Gilchrist and Aaron Finch.
First Hat-trick of IPL 2016 – Axar Patel picked up 2 wickets in the last two balls his first over and another wicket on the first ball of his 2nd over. Thus registering the first hat-trick of IPL 2016.
14th Hat-trick of IPL – The Hat-trick taken by Axar Patel is the 14th hat-trick in nine seasons of IPL and third for Kings XI Punjab. First two were taken by Yuvraj Singh.