Aaron Finch’s fifty guides Gujarat Lions to 5-wicket win against Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2016, Match 3 at Mohali
Aaron Finch's fifty guides Gujarat Lions to 5-wicket win against Kings XI Punjab in IPL 2016, Match 3 at Mohali
Aaron Finch’s timely fifty helps Gujarat Lions (GL) beat Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by five wickets in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016, Match 3 at Mohali. Finch scored a 47-ball 74 before he was stumped by Wriddhiman Saha off the bowling of leg spinner Pardeep Sahu in the 12th over of the innings. The damage was however done by then and GL got home without much trouble. GL however did not get off to the best of starts. Brendon McCullum, who was playing his first match since announcing international retirement was dismissed for a 2-ball duck, getting stumped off the bowling of Sandeep Sharma in the first over of the innings. Full Scorecard: Kings XI Punjab vs Gujarat Lions, IPL 2016, Match 3 at Mohali
Raina and Finch then brought some stability to the innings, with their quick-fire 51-run stand for the second wicket. Raina was foxed by an excellent slower delivery by Marcus Stoinis and he holed out in the deep after failing to pick the ball. Dinesh Karthik and Finch put up 55 more for the third wicket and soon, GL needed just run-a-ball to win the match. After Finch’s dismissal, things slowed down a little bit, but some excellent run out at the non-striker’s end sent Ravindra Jadeja back to the hut. Karthik and Ishan Kishan then upped the ante a bit, but Kishan played a rash shot and was dismissed for 11. Full Cricket Updates Kings XI Punjab vs Gujarat Lions, IPL 2016 Match 3 at Mohali
Karthik showed his class and experience ensuring that he stayed at the crease right till the end to guide his side home. Dwayne Bravo’s 4 for 22 had restricted KXIP to 161 for 6 in their 20 overs. KXIP will be disappointed with their effort as they would have felt that they fell at least 15-20 runs short. Ravindra Jadeja too chipped in with a couple of wickets, with Murali Vijay top-scoring for the hosts with 42.
Earlier, Suresh Raina had won the toss and elected to bowl first. This is their first match in IPL history after they were drafted as one of the two new teams in the IPL. The other team were Rising Pune Supergiants, who opened their account with a win over defending champions Mumbai Indians in the first match of the tournament. KXIP missed Shaun Marsh for this game as he was admitted to a local hospital with food poisoning. GL will be happy to have restricted KXIP to this total as they were staring at a total of around 180 at one stage.
Brief Scores:
Kings XI Punjab 161 for 6 in 20 Overs (Murali Vijay 42, Manan Vohra 38; Ravindra Jadeja 2 for 30, Dwayne Bravo 4 for 22) lost to Gujarat Lions 162 for 5 in 17.4 Overs (Aaron Finch 74, Dinesh Karthik 41*; Sandeep Sharma 1 for 21, Marcus Stoinis 1 for 27) by 5 wickets.
(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)