Their hopes of qualifying for the play-offs of the Indian Premier League severely dented, Kings XI Punjab captain Glenn Maxwell termed the six-wicket defeat against Gujarat Lions on Sunday as 'pretty devastating'.
IPL: Punjab lose to Gujarat despite Amla's century
Maxwell put the blame of the defeat on the team's horrendous fielding effort, saying the dropped catches hurt the team badly.
Put into bat, Punjab posted a huge 189 for three courtesy of Hashim Amla's splendid innings of 104 but Gujarat managed to overhaul the target with two balls to spare after Dwayne Smith smashed a quickfire 74 from 39 balls.
"Pretty devastating," Maxwell said after the loss.
"189 was enough, the bowlers and fielders let us down. We dropped three crucial catches. We haven't won a heap of games in a row. We have had to scrap. Unfortunately, we will lose Hashim and David Miller now, and we will have to look deep in our reserves and regroup," he added.
Gujarat Lions captain Suresh Raina said the win is a big morale booster for the youngsters of the team even if they have already crashed out of the play-off race.
"We had too many injuries (this year). (But) still a good season for the youngsters," he said.
He lauded openers Dwayne Smith and Ishan Kishan for setting the platform for the comfortable win.
"Smithy (Smith) and Ishan gave us the platform and later on me and DK (Dinesh Karthik) had a good partnership. I think it was about six-over partnerships.
"Sandy (Sandeep Sharma) and Mohit (Sharma) bowled brilliantly in between, but me and DK rotated the strike really well. When you're chasing 190, you need a good start, and that's what we have had in the last couple of matches," he said.
Man-of-the-match, Smith, who struck a whirlwind 74, said overall he was disappointed with his performances in IPL-10.
"Still disappointed about my performances over the past games. I think my natural game is like that, it was just about staying out there as long as possible, and if I do that we will stay in front of the run rate," he said.
"I knew once I stay out there, runs will come for sure. We are already out of the tournament, so we can't worry about that, we just need to keep going on and look to damage some other teams as well," Smith signed off.
