Published: Apr 14, 2016, 10:27 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 14, 2016, 10:51 PM (IST)
Aaron Finch scored his second half-century of the IPL 2016. Chasing 164, Finch and Brendon McCullum got Gujarat Lions of to a storming start. Finch reached his 50 from 33 balls, as Lions ended 8 overs at 85-0. Earlier, Faf du Plessis‘ half-century had propelled Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) to 163 for 5 in their 20 overs against Gujarat Lions (GL) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016. Ajinkya Rahane and du Plessis had come on to open the innings and Rahane had gotten himself off to a good start. He looked to carry on his momentum from the previous match, but his innings was cut short as he was trapped in front by Pravin Tambe. FULL SCORECARD: GUJ vs RPS, 6th T20 Match
Kevin Pietersen walked in at No. 3 and was looking in excellent form. He built a 84-run stand for the third wicket with du Plessis. He built a 84-run stand for the third wicket with du Plessis and that seemed to have set the tone for the middle-order, which consists of MS Dhoni, Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh.
But then, RPS lost three wickets in quick time as Pietersen, Smith and Marsh were dismissed in the span of 14 deliveries. Tambe, who was not picked for the first match eventually finished with figures of 2 for 33, scalping Rahane and Tambe along the way. Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja too did a good job in the latter stages of the innings, not allowing the batsmen any free runs.
Jadeja eventually finished with figures of 2 for 18 in his four overs, that brought GL back into the game. In the end, RPS will feel that they have fallen about 15-20 runs short. Things were looking good when Pietersen and du Plessis were batting well, but after they fell in quick time, GL found no momentum whatsoever. Dhoni however managed to get RPS to a good score, scoring 20 off the final over from Dwayne Bravo.
