Aaron Finch finished the match with two sixes off the last two balls of the eighteenth over. (Source: PTI)
Gujarat Lions recorded their first win of the season when they defeated Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets. On the other hand, RPS have been handed their third consecutive loss of this season. RPS had set a total of 172 for Gujarat to chase and they achieved that total in 18 overs with Aaron Finch hitting two sixes on the trot to square things off.
Andrew Tye was the man of the match as he became the second bowler in the day to get a hat-trick. It was his first IPL match and he ended the day with five wickets.
Tye’s incredible last over included the successive wickets of Ankit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary and Shardul Thakur. He also dismissed Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi. Gujarat Lions’ innings got off to a flying start as openers Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith blazed their way to half centuries. Their opening partnership worth 94 runs and it looked like they would knock down Gujarat’s final score themselves, similar to how they lost to KKR in their first match. But that wasn’t the case when Dwayne Smith became the first to be dismissed. His wicket was quickly followed by that of McCullum. Dinesh Karthik also fell in the chase but that proved to be the last wicket of the day for RPS.
Gujarat skipper Suresh Raina and Aaron Finch then built on the start provided by the openers and saw their side over the line. This was the first victory of the season for the Gujarat Lions and the third consecutive loss for RPS.
Here are a few reactions to their victory:
#GLvRPS #IPL2017 who says that there is too much cricket; and players & fans are jaded #awesomecricket
— Jonty Rhodes (@JontyRhodes8) 14 April 2017
Played an overseas bowler and Gujarat Lions are off the blocks…not as easy as that but it did make a ‘slight’ difference 😉 #IPL #GLvRPS
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 14 April 2017
Easy does it. Gujarat hardly stretched to reach target. Pune, I thought, always 30-odd runs fewer than what was a challenging score…
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) 14 April 2017
Rising Pune Supergiants are now bottom of the IPL table while the Gujarat Lions are above them at seventh.
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
3 min read
