IPL 9, Match 25: RPS v GL - 5 Talking Points

In spite of Steve Smith’s first century in IPL 9 and perhaps the first of his T20 career, the Gujarat Lions found a way to scale the mammoth target set by the Rising Pune Supergiants. The 3-wicket win sees Suresh Raina’s men complete a well deserved double over the Supergiants. As for the Pune-based franchise, they are still to find a combination of players that can win them games and bowlers that can tighten the screw on the opposition. While there were quite a few talking points, here are five of the most prominent ones.

1. Rahane at it once again:

Ajinkya Rahane is in the form of his life at the moment. It is almost as if Rahane has been out on a sacred path to prove to all those doubters who said that he couldn’t play T20 cricket. The elegant batsman got his customary half-century and added to his amazing tally of 50s in the current edition of the IPL. The dismissal of his new opening partner Saurabh Tiwary did little to disrupt his flow as he went about his merry way to lay a solid foundation for the Pune Supergiants. He smashed a valiant 53 off 45 deliveries on a diabolical wicket of sorts.

2. Steve Smith toys with Lions bowlers:

The Aussie skipper has been in substandard form thus far in the IPL. Having contributed very little with the bat and even lesser with the ball, Smith’s form has been a cause of concern for the Supergiants. However, with the absence of Kevin Pietersen and Faf du Plessis, the 26-year old Smith finally stepped up to the plate with a fine century. Despite beginning on a sluggish note, Smith soon got on the horse and swashbuckled the bowlers all over the park. He reached his 100 in the final over of the inning , having smashed it in just 54 deliveries. His innings included 8 fours and five sixes but in the end, it wasn’t enough for his team to win the game.

3. Dwayne Smith gets Lions off to a flier:

Dwayne Smith was drafted into the squad following an aggravation of the injury to Aaron Finch. The 33-year old West Indies batsman however, failed to disappoint. He smashed his way to a fine half-century, thereby laying a near-perfect foundation for the Gujarat Lions to scale the mammoth target set by the Supergiants. Needless to say, he top-scored for the Lions with a mighty impressive knock of 63 from just 37 deliveries including nine boundaries and a six. Smith was also awarded the Man of the Match for his knock.

4. McCullum’s flashes of brilliance:

Brendon McCullum may have retired for a while, but that doesn’t mean he cannot play the shots he has all his career. The 34-year old and former Kiwi skipper reintroduced himself to the Pune crowd with a scintillating knock of 43 compiled in just 22 deliveries. This is perhaps the first time since the month of February that we are witnessing the full flowing Brendon McCullum.

5. Thrilling finish:

Despite the highly impressive knocks early on in the Lions’ innings, the Supergiants had indeed posted a mammoth total of 195. Things went into a crisis when Dinesh Karthik lost his wicket for 33 and with the Lions cruising along. Darren Bravo nicked one behind to MS Dhoni before Ravindra Jadeja was short of his crease after facing just one delivery. The skipper Raina also failed to take his team home as he was cleaned up by a Thisara Perera yorker. Gujarat now needed 3 to win from 3, Ishan Kishan the new man in went for a quick single but was caught short of his crease by a direct his from Saurabh Tiwary. They needed one on the last ball and James Faulkner finished it off with a boundary.

How did the match pan out? – IPL 9 Match 25 Review: Lions squeeze out a last ball win in a high scoring chase