IPL: Kings XI Punjab defeat Gujarat Lions

IPL scores (Rajkot)

Kings XI Punjab beat Gujarat Lions by 26 runs

Kings XI Punjab: 188-7 (Amla 65, A Patel 34; Tye 2-35, Singh 1-7)

Gujarat Lions: 162-7 (Karthik 58*, Raina 32; Cariappa 2-24, A Patel 2-36, S Sharma 2-40)

Hashim Amla top-scored as they posted 188-7 from their 20 overs before restricting the Lions to 162-7 in their reply.

Axar Patel, having smashed 34 from 17 with the bat, then chipped in with the wickets of Suresh Raina and Dwayne Smith before KC Cariappa took two in two balls to extinguish any lingering Lions' hopes.

Having overcome the early wicket of Manan Vohra (2), Amla continued his fine form for Kings XI to help set up the innings, firstly with Shaun Marsh (30) and then Glenn Maxwell.

A mixture of elegance and aggression took Amla to 65, with Kings XI 128-2 in the 14th, before he offered a return catch to Shubham Agarwal and when Maxwell fell, lbw to Ravi Jadeja, playing an ill-advised reverse sweep three balls later, the momentum was suddenly with the bowling side.

A flurry of late runs, largely courtesy of the power of Axar, provided Kings XI with a much-needed boost, giving their under-fire attack that bit more of a cushion.

Perhaps buoyed by that, they made a good start after the interval, Sandeep Sharma removing Brendon McCullum in the first over of the chase.

With Aaron Finch gone before the end of the powerplay, Gujarat were dealt another blow in the ninth over as Maxwell took a superb catch in the deep to bring Raina's innings to an end.

Smith, too, holed out and when mystery spinner Cariappa (2-24) had Jadeja caught and bowled and trapped Akshdeep Nath lbw in successive balls, Gujarat looked beaten.

Dinesh Karthik showed off an array of inventive shots on his way to an unbeaten 58 from 43 balls but it was not enough to prevent Gujarat falling to a fifth defeat in seven games.