Published: Apr 11, 2016, 09:48 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 12, 2016, 05:21 PM (IST)
The Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) on Tuesday began the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 tournament with a bang, as their opening batsmen Murali Vijay and Manan Vohra provided their side a brilliant start against the debutant Gujarat Lions. However, KXIP lost the momentum in the middle overs after their openers fell and David Miller and Glenn Maxwell were removed by Dwayne Bravo. It will not be wrong to say that KXIP squandered an opportunity to put up a huge total on the board, keeping in mind that they were close to the 100-run mark in the 12th over. But Suresh Raina’s Gujarat Lions pulled things back in control, and restricted KXIP to . Let’s take a look at the highlights of the first innings. Live Cricket Scorecard: Kings XI Punjab vs Gujarat Lions, IPL 2016 Match 3 at Mohali
Murali Vijay’s attack: The right-handed opening batsman was in his elements as there were some lovely drives through cover region on display. Vijay began cautiously as the new ball from Praveen Kumar, and picked up on scoring only after the initial troubling phase was over. Vijay struck a few boundaries through cover, and did not hesitate to dance down the track when the opportunity came his way. Vijay deserved a half-century looking at the way he batted, but he was cleaned up by Ravindra Jadeja for 42. IPL 2016 Schedule, Time Table, Fixture PDF Download
Manan Vohra follows the trend: Just like Vijay, the other opener Manan Vohra too began on a cautious note. Vohra, in fact, took a little more time than his partner to get going. The right-handed young batsman did not play an innings as good as Vijay in terms of stroke-play, but Vohra still managed to make a strong start with some big hits down the track and also on the leg side. KXIP would really have been pleased the way their openers batted today.
The Ravindra Jadeja show: The left-arm spinner bagged the wickets of both KXIP openers. While Vohra was caught by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik bat-pad for 23-ball 38, Jadeja’s tight line on the middle and leg from over the wicket was enough to make Vijay run out of patience and go for a big shot. Vijay was cleaned up for 42, and Jadeja carried out his responsibility pretty well with the figures of 4-0-30-2.
Dwayne Bravo’s magic: The ‘Champion’ dance was on display for the first time in the tournament on Tuesday night. Bravo bowled two brilliant slow yorkers to break the KXIP momentum, getting rid of Glenn Maxwell and David Miller in quick succession. Bravo achieved the feat of becoming the only cricketer with 300 wickets in T20 cricket, and his performance with the ball in his initial few overs showed some positive signs for Gujarat Lions going ahead into the tournament. Bravo was unfortunate as Sarabjit Ladda spilled a regulation catch in the end, else the Caribbean all-rounder would have returned with a five-wicket haul. Bravo bowled 4 overs and claimed 4 for 22.
A gritty stand: Marcus Stoinis and Wriddhiman Saha played a crucial role in reviving the Kings XI Punjab side, after they lost four wickets in a heap. Stoinis scored 22-ball 33 and Saha contributed 20 off 25 balls, as the two batsmen added 55 runs for the fifth wicket. Their partnership played a key role in taking KXIP to a total of 161 for 6.
(Devarchit Varma is senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)
