Dubai: Coming off to play after a beautiful five-wicket win over Delhi Capitals, a good performance was expected from Kings XI Punjab batters. But in a poor display of batting, KXIP caved in meekly against SRH on Saturday here at the Dubai International Stadium as they were restricted to 126 for 7 in 20 overs.
Sandeep Sharma (2 for 29) and Jason Holder (2 for 27) wreaked havoc in the KXIP batting line-up. They were ably supported by Rashid Khan ( 2 for 14). Khaleel Ahmed, who went wicketless, also bowled tight spells.
Playing without regular opener Mayank Agarwal, KXIP started fantastically, scoring 37 runs in five overs.
Mandeep Singh, who lost his father last night replaced Mayank Agarwal, couldn't do justice to his selection as he was dismissed by Sandeep Sharma. Playing his fourth match in the competition, Mandeep Singh could score 17 off 14 balls. Chris Gayle, who was also playing his fourth game in the tournament, fell for 20 when he tried to launch Jason Holder over the offside but mistimed it, and was caught by David Warner.
Captain KL Rahul once again failed to capitalise on a good start. Resembling his last match's performance he got off to a good start hitting two fours and a six but fell to a Rashid Khan's trickery.
Rahul completely failed to understand a tweaker from Rashid Khan which made an inroad to castle his wickets.
As the top order departed, middle-order too couldn't do anything special with Glenn Maxwell (12), Deepak Hooda (0), Chris Jordan (7), Murugan Ashwin (4) felling in quick succession.
Maxwell and Hooda's dismissals in the 14th and 15th over finished KXIP's any real chance of making a recovery to the game. In 11 matches, Maxwell's total collection is 102 runs.
In the end, last match's hero Nicholas Poora showcasing his grit and fighting spirit tried to post a modest total for KXIP. He remained unbeaten on 32 off 28 balls.
