Internet Desk: Andrew Tye’s hat-trick and the relentless bombardment by the opening pair of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum were the highlights of the Gujarat Lions’ seven-wickets win over Rising Pune Supergiant on Friday evening. After opting to bowl first, the Lions restricted the visitors to 171-8 and then chased down the runs in 18.0 overs.
Needing 172 for their first win of the season, the Lions openers came out all guns blazing. Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum tore into the RPS bowling attack as they added 94 in 8.4 overs before they were separated. Smith launched into Ankit Sharma in the very first over when he collected two boundaries and a six. Lockie Ferguson and Imran Tahir too came in for plenty of stick as they conceded more than ten runs in each of the overs they bowled in the first six.
The barrage continued even when the field restrictions were eased. In the seventh over Dwayne Smith hit Rahul Chahar for two boundaries, while McCullum got stuck into Imran Tahir in the eighth – hitting the world’s top-ranked bowler for three fours and a six.
Dwayne Smith (47 from 30 balls, eight fours and a six) and McCullum (49 from 32 balls, 5 fours and sixes) missed their half-centuries when they were dismissed by Shardul Thakur and Rahul Chahar respectively. Dinesh Karthik too missed out on an opportunity to collect a few easy runs; he dragged an Imran Tahir delivery onto his stumps.
Despite losing three wickets in five overs, there was no let-up in steam from the Lions. Suresh Raina (who once again became the top run-getter in the IPL during the course of his unbeaten 35) and Aaron Finch (33 from 19 balls, 3 fours & 2 sixes) continued to pound the RPS bowlers and took their team past the finish line without any further casualties. The Lions fourth-wicket pair added 61 runs – 46 of which came through boundaries – in 5.1 overs.
Earlier in the evening, RPS, put in to bat, lost AjinkyaRahane even before they had a run on the board. The visitors recovered quickly though, with Rahul Tripathi – who took Mayank Agarwal’s place at the top of the innings – and skipper Steven Smith taking the attack to the Lions bowlers. The second wicket pair added 64 in just over five overs, with both batsmen making near equal contributions. The pair was extremely severe on Praveen Kumar, of whom they took 25 runs in the fifth over.
Andrew Tye, introduced into the attack in the sixth over, made immediate impact as he deceived Tripathi (33 from 17 balls) with a slower delivery and had the batsman caught at mid-off. The overseas pair of Steven Smith (43 from 28 balls) and Ben Stokes then added 25 in quick time before the former miscued Dwayne Smith and holed out to long-on. Tye’s slower delivery breached through the defences of Stokes (25 from 18 balls) at the start of the thirteenth over.
After Ravindra Jadeja dismissed MS Dhoni leg before wicket, ManojTiwary (31 from 27 balls) and Ankit Sharma (25 from 15 balls) contributed useful runs before both men became victims in Tye’s hat-trick. Shardul Thakur’s dismissal – courtesy a yorker–completed the hat-trick for Tye.
Not surprisingly, Tye’s were the standout figures for the Lions; the 30-year old pacer from Australia finished with stunning figures of 4-0-17-5. Tye’s figures were:
– The best bowling figures in VIVO IPL 2017
– Tye’s best figures in T20 cricket
– The best bowling figures by an IPL debutant.
Courtsey- IPL media