IPL 10, Match 39, RPS v GL – Rising Pune Supergiant Player Ratings

A scintillating century from the willow of English all-rounder Ben Stokes helped Rising Pune Supergiant thrash their opposition in their den at Pune. The Gujarat Lions had absolutely no answer to the batting might of Stokes as they were found wanting for options when the Englishman was hitting in full flow. Stokes came in to bat at number 5 when the team had lost their top three batsmen with only 10 runs on the board.

Things only got worse when the fourth wicket of Rahul Tripathi went down due to a total mix up at the center. It was a firm 76 run stand between Stokes and MS Dhoni that then helped the RPS to inch closer to the victory. When the wicket of MS Dhoni fell, some runs were still needed to be fetched. Stokes was joined by Dan Christian and the duo took the side over the line with 5 wickets in hand.

En route the runchase, Stokes reached his maiden T20 ton in the last over of the chase with a boundary off the bowling of James Faulkner. Earlier in the match, it was a fighting 45 from Brendon McCullum and a late finish of 29 from Dinesh Karthik that helped Gujarat Lions post 161 in 19.5 overs before bundling out. Jaydev Unadkat and Imran Tahir bagged three wickets each to rattle the opposition.

Here are the Rising Pune Supergiant Player Ratings of the RPS v GL encounter:

Rahul Tripathi – 1/10

Rahul Tripathi has been the find of the season for the Rising Pune Supergiant. However, the youngster from Pune had an off day at work today. He came in to open the innings with Ajinkya Rahane and then saw a flurry of wickets fall down from the other end.

He could only score 6 runs during his stay at the crease during his 7-ball stay. Tripathi’s knock today was marred by the lack of opportunities. He is renowned for being the hitter of the ball in the powerplay. In this particular game though, he did not get the strike in the early overs and that had an impact on his mindset apparently.

Ajinkya Rahane – 1/10

This is how the story has been for Ajinkya Rahane in this season of the IPL. Just when things seem aligned for him and people start thinking that he has struck fine form, Rahane ends up with a low score to his name. The dark clouds of inconsistency come back to haunt his stakes in the team camp.

Rahane came in to open the innings for RPS in the match and was the first batsman to be dismissed in the game. He hit a boundary first up and gave brief hopes to the fans before perishing after having faced 4 deliveries. He could score only 4 runs on the day.

Steve Smith – 3/10

RPS skipper announced his arrival at the crease in grand style. He hit a boundary on the very first ball that he faced in the run chase. The second delivery that he faced saw him get contrasting fortunes though. He was dismissed by Pradeep Sangwan, who got his second wicket of the night.

With just 4 runs to his name in the match, Steven Smith definitely did not have a great time with the bat. However, his captaincy was top notch like it always has been this season. He was spot on with his bowling changes and made some quick shuffles in the field too.

Manoj Tiwary – 1/10

Over the last few matches, middle-order veteran batsman Manoj Tiwary has been tipped as the underrated star of the Rising Pune Supergiant lineup. He has been in great form this season and has been playing some handy cameos towards the end overs. In this particular game, RPS had lost two quick wickets.

Hence, he was promoted up the order to get more time at the crease in order to anchor the run chase. But the Bengal batsman lasted just 2 deliveries before being dismissed lbw by Basil Thampi. He had a rare off day at work today.

MS Dhoni – 7/10

Former RPS skipper MS Dhoni has made it a habit to be under the radar of the critics and pundits. After the conclusion of this game, expect him to be in the firing range of the haters and critics yet again. Dhoni played an uncharacteristic knock of 26 runs that came off 33 balls in the match.

He batted with a strike rate of 78.79 and largely struggled to time the ball on the day. The critics are bound to slam him for over-pressurizing Ben Stokes. However, what might go unnoticed is the fact that the need of the hour for Rising Pune Supergiant was to save wickets at the crease. He added 76 runs for the fifth wicket with Ben Stokes to bail out RPS from the crisis situation.

Ben Stokes – 10/10

The words might fall short while describing the kind of innings English all-rounder Ben Stokes played in the match. Stokes almost single-handedly won the match for his team. He stitched a handy 32 run stand with Rahul Tripathi and then added a match-winning 76 runs with MS Dhoni. By the end of 12th over, he had marched past his fifty in the innings.

It was only a matter of time that he stepped on the accelerator soon. He ended up with an unbeaten 103 off just 63 balls to take RPS over the line with 5 wickets in hand. He became the first non-opener to score a century in a run chase in the history of the tournament. Stokes became the second Englishman to register a ton in the IPL after Kevin Pietersen.

Dan Christian – 8/10

A lot of people had been questioning the place of Dan Christian in the lineup of RPS. Many believed that he had been underused in the season with both bat and the ball. Christian, however, slammed all his critics wrong with an all-round show on the day.

He chipped in with small yet vital contributions with both bat and the ball today in the match. He came in to join Stokes at the crease in the run chase after the dismissal of MS Dhoni. He remained unbeaten on 17 off just 8 balls with a six and a four to his name. He took a lot of pressure of Ben Stokes with his two boundary shots. Earlier in the game, he had bowled a decent spell of 3 overs to return with figures of 1/27.

Washington Sundar – 7/10

Washington Sundar had very little role to play in the match but the 17-year old youngster played his part with the ball yet again. He continued to impress in the limited opportunities that he is getting for the men in purple. Sundar was asked to bowl in the powerplay with the new ball. The Tamil Nadu spinner responded in fine fashion and gave away just 1 run in the first over that he bowled. His next over yielded 11 runs and that summed up his spell of two overs in which he gave 12 runs.

Shardul Thakur – 5/10

Shardul Thakur was brought back in the playing eleven at the expense of Deepak Chahar in the match. The young Mumbai pacer continued to impress as he picked up two wickets on the day. But as the story of the season has been, Shardul failed to contain the run flow. He gave away 25 runs in his spell of 3 overs and returned with a solitary wicket to his name. He got the big fish from the opposition though. Shardul dismissed Brendon McCullum who was looking threatening on 45 at that moment.

Jaydev Unadkat – 7/10

Jaydev Unadkat’s good time with the ball continued in this game as well. He cleaned up the Gujarat Lions tail to finish with 3 wickets to his name. He got the wickets of James Faulkner, Pradeep Sangwan and Ankit Soni to wrap up the Lions innings on 161. In the 3.5 overs that he bowled, he gave away 29 runs to return with his triple strikes on the day.

Imran Tahir – 7.5/10

Imran Tahir has arguably been the most successful bowler for the Rising Pune Supergiant this season. The veteran leggie was very effective with the ball yet again. He provided the first breakthrough for the team when he dismissed Ishan Kishan on 31 on the final ball of the powerplay. Later in the innings, he bagged two key wickets of the Gujarat Lions middle order. He dismissed Aaron Finch on 13 and then cleaned up Dwayne Smith for a golden duck. He finished with figures of 3/27 in his quota of 4 overs.