IPL 2016: Hashim Amla Stamps His Class With Brilliant 96 For KXIP

Hashim Amla was ignored during the 2016 Indian Premier League auctions. He was always labelled as a Test and ODI batting meastro. However, he shattered those illusions in grand style as he blazed away to 96 off 56 balls for Kings XI Punjab in their game against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mohali on Sunday,

Amla, who was brought in to the Kings XI Punjab squad as a replacement for the injured Shaun Marsh, came good in just his fourth IPL match after scoring just 1,21 and 0 in his previous three games.

The stylish South-African batsman got off the mark in style when he cut a short and wide ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and got going with three fours off Ashish Nehra in the second over. Amla rarely took the foot off the pedal and he showed his aggressive side by depositing Nehra into the stands.

Amla notched up his maiden fifty off just 30 balls and he had already smashed seven fours and one six. He attacked Moises Henriques by clubbing a four past mid-off and slamming a big six over long on. However, he went into overdrive when he showed both innovation and aggression in the 17th over bowled by Mustafizur Rahman.

He paddled the first ball to fine leg and pulled the next ball through the gap at deep mid wicket. On the final ball, Amla walked across and paddled a full ball over short fine to come closer. The right-hander was lucky to survive two close chances in the 90s. In the 18th over, he miscued a pull shot off Bhuvneshwar but the ball landed just in front of the substitute fielder Vijay Shankar. In the 19th over, Amla did not time the drive well but it once again landed in front of Shankar at deep cover.

However, Amla struggled for momentum in the final over and after missing a slog across the line, he mistimed a full ball and holed out to long off to end on a magnificent 96. This is the highest individual score by a batsman against Sunrisers Hyderabad in this edition of the IPL, beating the 90 set by Gautam Gambhir.