Gujarat Lions 172 for 3 (McCullum 49, Smith 47) beat Rising Pune Supergiant 171 for 8 (Smith 43, Tye 5-17) by seven wickets.
Gujarat Lions had picked up only one wicket in two matches this season. But Andrew Tye
took five times as many - including a hat-trick, the second of the day -
to record the best figures by an IPL debutant. His 5 for 17 was then
followed by a typically brutal display of batting from the top order to
ensure a perfect record against Rising Pune Supergiant after three
matches so far.
Good length = bad length
In the space of this past week, Lions have put on their two worst
performances in the Poweplay. They leaked 73 runs in the season opener
against Kolkata Knight Riders last Friday and now they gave up 64 to
Rising Pune Supergiant. Their bowling attack largely consists of
medium-pacers who, unless there is some sideways movement, can be lined
up. All seven fours in the first six overs came off length balls. Two of
the three sixes came off length balls. Praveen Kumar was carted for 25
runs in the fifth over. It had been 10 years since he had been that
expensive in the IPL.
The change up
Pune had just recorded their fastest fifty of the tournament - in 27
balls. They had to be slowed down and so Lions turned to the bowler with
the best slower ball. A batsman can read the offcutter when the
bowler's wrist breaks. Ditto the legcutter. The back-of-the-hand slower
ball is difficult largely because of the way it misbehaves off the
pitch. But the knuckle ball is slightly different for much of its
potency lies in making sure the batsman doesn't pick it.
As a batsman, 22 yards in front, it is hard to read the change in Tye's
grip and he doesn't give anything away in his run up. He took four of
his five wickets with that knuckle ball, including the one that sealed
his second hat-trick of 2017.
Tye's introduction brought Lions back from the brink. They allowed only
five of the 48 deliveries that followed the Powerplay to get to the
boundary and in the 14th over the returning Ravindra Jadeja dismissed MS
Dhoni for the second time in the IPL. The wicketkeeper-batsman fell for
5 off eight balls, his third successive innings at a strike-rate below
100.
From 120 for 5, even a solid partnership of 47 runs in 29 balls between
Manoj Tiwary and Ankit Sharma - one of six changes to the XI - could
only take Pune to 171.
The top-order threat
Lions' specialist openers made 762 runs in 2016 - that's 30% of the
team's total runs. Stopping them had to be Pune's best chance to defend
171. But, on a slow pitch, they fed Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith
with fast bowling. It proved a costly mistake. Both of them were set by
the time Imran Tahir
came on to bowl and the legspinnner was smashed for 15 runs in his
first over. He would be hit for 10 boundaries in his spell - the most he
has conceded in all the matches he has played in the IPL and for South
Africa.
With the main threat decimated, all Lions had to do was trust in their
batting depth. They had pushed Aaron Finch down the order because among
their four overseas openers he handles spin best - averaging 27.73 and
striking at 129. He and Raina, the first man to play 150 IPL games, saw
this one through to the finish.
Alagappan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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