Published: Apr 15, 2017, 07:59 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 15, 2017, 04:08 PM (IST)
Gujarat Lions (GL) finally registered their first win of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017, beating Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) by 7 wickets. Andrew Tye was awarded Man of the Match for his stunning performance with the ball. In fact, he became the first player to take a hat-trick as well as five-wicket haul on IPL debut. In the second innings, Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum took centre stage and reduced the opposition bowlers to nothingness. This was also GL’s third consecutive win over RPS, maintaining the clean sheet. This and other top episodes in our today’s highlights of match 13. IPL 2017: Tye gifts GL first win of IPL 10 vs RPS
The Smith juggernaut: Steven Smith had missed the previous game due to stomach illness. Well, we are not sure if that has to do with the same fate that befallen on Matt Renshaw a couple months ago in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2016-17. Anyway, Smith scored runs then and Smith scored runs now. Except the format, nothing has change for Smith. He scored a fine 43 to set things up, but others failed to follow his footsteps and suffered third consecutive defeat.
Tye-Tye fish for RPS: Pune could not knot a Tye or they could not Tye the lose ends. You can play with the word Tye and make puns all day, thanks to Tye’s hat-trick. He dismissed Ankit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, and Shardul Thakur to become the 15th player in IPL to take a hat-trick. For that matter, he would have become the first players to take 4 wickets on the trot had Ravindra Jadeja held on to a regulation catch at deep mid-wicket.
Supergiant in Dhoni fails: Dhoni’s last 4 innings read 12*, 5, 1, 5. Today. Dhoni misread Jadeja’s arm-ball and was adjudged lbw. However, it was good to see captain Smith showing belief in Dhoni before the start of the game. Well, I am sure the helicopter shot will be launched soon.
Smith and McCullum go berserk: Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum turned back the clock. The memories of Chennai Super Kings were resurfaced. The duo blasted 94 runs for the opening stand and set up the stage for the batters to come.
Raina’s 150th: Suresh Raina became the first player to make 150 appearances in IPL. He played 132 matches for Chennai Super Kings and 18 for GL. He is also the highest run-scorer, with 4,171 runs at 33.91 including a hundred and 29 half-centuries. Raina also has most catches in IPL.
