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Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) vs Gujarat Lions (GL), IPL 2016 Match 25: Highlights

Highlights from RPS vs GL, IPL 9 Match 25 at Pune.

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James Faulkner scored the winning runs, as usual © AFP
James Faulkner scored the winning runs, as usual © AFP

Steven Smith’s maiden T20 ton: Without doubt the best innings of the match, Steven Smith’s 54-ball 101 was his first in T20 cricket. Smith came in at No. 3 and showed just why he is such a highly-rated cricketer. There was never any doubt regarding his capabilities in the other forms of the game, but his T20 figures have been rather disappointing for a player of his calibre. However, Smith showed immense application on the day. He was off to a good start, and carried on that momentum throughout his innings. He ended up scoring 101 with 8 fours and 5 sixes. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: RISING PUNE SUPERGIANTS vs GUJARAT LIONS, IPL 2016, MATCH 25

Ajinkya Rahane’s stylish knock: The Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) opener played a typically responsible innings, scoring a vital 53 off 45 balls with 5 boundaries. He was involved in a terrific 111-run partnership for the second wicket with Steven Smith. Rahane’s dismissal came at an opportune moment for RPS, as it brought in MS Dhoni. Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith help Gujarat Lions power past Rising Pune Supergiants by 3 wickets in IPL 9

MS Dhoni’s late surge: The RPS skipper came in at No. 4 and managed to score some vital runs toward the end to get his team close to the 200-run mark. Dhoni hit 2 fours and 2 sixes en route to an unbeaten 18-ball 30.

Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum carve up RPS: When a team has 195 runs to defend, they are usually confident of doing it. But when the other team have Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum things are rarely simple. That was precisely what the former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) openers did. McCullum was in ferocious form, thrashing 43 off 22 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes, while Smith hit 63 off 37 with 9 fours and a six. The duo put on 93 in just 8 overs. Once both men were dismissed Gujarat Lions (GL) had already got 115 on the board in under 11 overs. It was exactly what GL needed.

Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik steady ship: After the blitzes from Smith and McCullum GL needed someone to play responsibly till the end. They found their man in Suresh Raina. With Dinesh Karthik for company, GL ate into the runs confidently. The duo put on 51 runs in good time before Karthik was caught by Rahane in the deep off Ashok Dinda. Raina played till the final over, but was dismissed with just 3 runs needed to win.

Anybody’s match: The match saw both teams dominating at various points. For as long as Smith and Rahane were in the middle for RPS it looked like they would get a match-winning score. Then when McCullum and Smith went about blasting the RPS bowling it looked like GL would win easily. Then RPS managed to spark a collapse that saw GL go from 166 for 2 to 193 for 7.

Final over see-saw: GL needed 9 to win off the final over, which was bowled by Thisara Perera. The first ball was a leg-stump full-toss that James Faulkner hit for a boundary. The next ball was a massive wide. Faulkner got a single off the next ball. Now 3 runs were needed off 4 balls. The next 2 balls saw Raina get bowled for 34 and Ishan Kishan get run out for a first-ball duck. Faulkner got 2 off the next ball, which meant that 1 was needed off the final ball. Perera bowled a short ball that was swatted just over the fielder at mid on and GL won a thriller.

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