Published: Apr 30, 2016, 01:18 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 30, 2016, 05:41 AM (IST)
The 25th game of the Indian Premier League 2016 between Rising Pune Supergiants and Gujarat Lions once again turned out to be a dramatic one as the game went on to the ultimate delivery of the match. GL registered yet another victory and another nail-biter against the struggling RPS. Suresh Raina-led Gujarat Lions have now won six out of their seven encounters and are close to making it to the play-offs. Rising Pune Supergiants skipper MS Dhoni on the other hand is struggling to get going with their fifth loss of the tournament and their journey to making it to the play-offs is further getting difficult. IPL 2016, Match 25, Pick of the tweets: Rising Pune Supergiants vs Gujarat Lions at Pune
Suresh Raina won the toss and opted to chase on a wicket which had some grass covered over it. Ajinkya Rahane and Saurabh Tiwary started the proceedings for RPS but the latter foundered early on in the innings which paved the way for Steve Smith at three. Rahane and Smith sailed out RPS from choppy waters and laid a solid foundation for the middle-order. Smith played with unmatched confidence and went on to score his maiden T20 ton. His approach was astute and placed his innings sensibly. Rahane batted well for his half-century and Dhoni’s cameo in the end ensured a massive total of 195 on the board for RPS.
Chasing 196 against any bowling attack is never an easy task, it demands a flying start which was ensured by GL openers Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith. After a bit of scratchiness in the start both the openers played with immense confidence and attacked the opposition. It was a valiant display of some aggressive batting by the lethal pair as they garnered 72 runs in the powerplay overs. McCullum played a good hand top-edged a slower one from Rajat Bhatia which landed safely into the hands of Albie Morkel. Smith brought up his scintillating fifty but both the openers were dismissed in quick successions which gave RPS an opportunity to wrestle it back.
Dinesh Karthik looked good on 33 but didn’t middle a delivery properly while attempting a big hit which led to his dismissal. Raina played an uncomfortable innings of 34 from 28 but failed to carry his team over the line as he was cleaned up in the final over by Thisara Perera. The final over saw a lot of nerve-wracking incidents as GL needed 9 runs to register a victory. The last over saw two wickets tumbling but after a few hiccups, GL finally managed to register a another victory and still remain at the top in the points table.
Turning point: GL needed 20 from the last two over which looked difficult as both the batsman were struggling to hit big shots out there in the middle. The 19th over of the game, which was bowled by Ashok Dinda conceded 11 runs which steered the game in GL’s favour. The boundary on the fifth ball of the 19th over tilted the game heavily in GL’s favour.
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Brief Scores: Rising Pune Supergiants 195 for 3 in 20 overs [Steve Smith 101 (54), Ajinkya Rahane 53 (45), MS Dhoni 30 (18)*; Dwayne Bravo (4-0-40-1)] lost to Gujarat Lions 196 for 7 in 20 overs [Dwayne Smith 63 (37), Brendon McCullum 43 (22), Dinesh Karthik 33 (20), Suresh Raina 34 (28); Thisara Perera (4-0-41-2), Ashok Dinda (4-0-40-2), Rajat Bhatia (3-0-26-1)] by 3 wickets.
