Rajkot: After Murali Vijay’s fifty (55 off 41 balls) had helped Kings XI Punjab set up a competitive total (154 all out in 19.5 overs), Axar Patel took four wickets in five balls, including the first hat-trick of the season, to help KXIP beat Gujarat Lions by 23 runs in the IPL match at played at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot on Sunday.

Defending 154, Kings XI's got off to a good start as Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina, both dismissed by Mohit Sharma, were back into the pavilion by the end of fifth over with the Gujarat Lions score reading 34.

Thereafter, Axar Patel came in to bowl in the seventh over, his second of the innings, and struck for his team on the third ball as Dwayne Smith lofted the ball straight to Gurkeerat Singh at the long-off. Two balls later, Dinesh Karthik found an inside edge to Patel’s delivery and it hit the leg stump. Dwayne Bravo hit the first ball he faced onto his stumps, leaving the Lions tattering at 39 for 5. Axar, who was again brought back in the 11th over, took Ravindra Jadeja's wicket on the very first ball and thereafter it became a difficult chase for the Lions.

Earlier, Vijay led from the front as the newly-appointed skipper of Kings XI Punjab scored a fifty and later David Miller and Wridhiman Saha scored 31 and 33 respectively to help Kings XI score 154 in 19.5 overs.

Brief scores: Kings XI Punjab 154 (Vijay 55, Saha 33, Kaushik 3-20) beat Gujarat Lions 131 for 9 (Faulkner 32, Kishan 27, Axar 4-21, Mohit 3-32) by 23 runs