Brett Lee believes his recent injury trouble has worked in his favor after a blistering spell of fast bowling helped keep Kings XI Punjab in contention for an IPL semi-final spot.
The 32-year-old Australian, who’ll be his country’s Ashes spearhead in England later this year, took 3-15 in a man-of-the-match performance that included a wicket-maiden, as his side beat Delhi Daredevils by six wickets on Friday.
It was a remarkable performance by Lee, who was sidelined by ankle surgery until recently.
PHOTO: AFP
“I lost about 7kg in India [last year] and then I got injured. In hindsight, it could have been the best thing that could have happened to me,” Lee said. “It meant I got back in the gym and the hard work is starting to pay off.”
After Punjab’s bowlers had restricted IPL leaders Delhi to 120-9, Kumar Sangakkara hit an unbeaten 43 to guide his side to a thrilling win with five balls to spare.
Punjab nearly made a mess of the chase, losing their top three wickets for 35 runs before Sangakkara put the innings back on track with a 53-run stand for the fourth wicket with Yuvraj Singh.
Yuvraj (18) was dismissed with the side still needing 33 to win from 26 balls, but Irfan Pathan kept his cool, hitting three sixes en route to his unbeaten 21 to take his team home in their must-win tie.
Erratic Farveez Mahroof, playing his first match of the tournament, took a wicket off his first ball to finish with 2-29, while left-arm pace man Ashish Nehra conceded just six runs off his four overs, while picking up one wicket.
Delhi were off to a poor start with swashbuckling openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag being sent back cheaply inside the first four overs.
As well as Lee’s three wickets, Pathan and Santhakumaran Shreesanth chipped in with two wickets each.
Dinesh Karthik top-scored with 32.
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