Andrew Tye’s brilliance helps Gujarat Lions get their first win of IPL 10

Gujarat desperately needed to get their IPL 10 campaign up and running and they did exactly that against a Rising Pune Supergiant side that were left shellshocked by a brilliant spell of bowling from Andrew Tye, who claimed a hat-trick and ended up with outstanding bowling figures of 4-0-17-5. As a result, despite a very good start, RPS ended up with just 171-8 in their 20 overs.

In reply, Gujarat’s openers performed a brutal demolition job that all but finished off the game. In the end, Gujarat Lions won by 7 wickets (with 12 balls remaining).

Here’s a look at some of the talking points from the game:

The Raina catch

Gujarat’s bowling has inspired no confidence. In the 40 overs, they had bowled in their first two games, they had managed just one wicket. So if the bowlers needed a pick-me-up, then that is exactly what Gujarat skipper Suresh Raina delivered. Praveen Kumar’s first two deliveries to Ajinkya Rahane were outswingers but the third one was an inswinger. It cramped Rahane for room and he just managed to edge it towards first slip. Raina was deceived too — he went to his right first but then quickly made the adjustment and took a brilliant one-handed catch.

Up, up and away

Rahul Tripathi was playing his first game and he had just seen Rahane walking back to the dugout. That was, however, no reason to hold back. In the 5th over of the innings. Tripathi gave Praveen Kumar the treatment. He was down the wicket on the first ball and slapped the slow leg-cutter over mid-wicket for six. The next ball — he kept things simple and hit it straight over mid-off for six. The third was slammed through cover for four. A single off the fourth ball turned the strike over to Steve Smith and he obliged with two successive fours. 25 runs came off the over and pushed Rising Pune Supergiant to 60/1 at the end of the fifth over.

The turning point?

After missing RPS’s last game due to a stomach bug, Smith looked really composed during his stay in the middle. He had put together a quickfire 63-run partnership with Tripathi and looked to be doing the same thing with Ben Stokes too. But he somehow managed to mistime one (yes, even he does that sometimes) and get caught on long-on. His 43 off 28 balls was classy but once he was back in the hit, the RPS innings just didn’t do justice to the great start.

What’s happening with Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni can be a slow starter in the IPL but he can no longer fall back on the ‘too jaded’ option. And usually that would also mean that he needs to get going from that first match. However, even four matches into the tournament, the former Indian skipper still doesn’t look like he has hit top gear. Maybe Sourav Ganguly does indeed have a point.

All Tye(d) up!

Gujarat were desperately looking for wicket-taking options and in that desperation, they turned to Andrew Tye. It proved to be an inspired decision.His knuckle ball had the batsmen fooled and his accuracy ensured that he got a pretty good return as well. The Australian ended up with figures of 4-0-17-5. It could have been six, if Ravindra Jadeja had not dropped an easy chance off the last ball. To sum it up, here’s his bowling today: 1 1 2 0 W 0 W 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1 WD 2 W W W 1 1 2.

Opening madness

To win, Gujarat needed a good start. Well, they got more than that. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith ripped into the RPS attack — in just 8.4 overs before Smith was dismissed, the duo managed 94 runs. It was exactly the manic batting that McCullum is famed for and Smith chipped in with some power hitting of his own. On a wicket that had some help for the spinners, they also carted Imran Tahir for 35 runs in two overs.

Gujarat’s fearsome batting

In the first few games, Gujarat loaded their side with batsmen but with the bowling not stepping up, they were never in with a chance. Today, however, was a totally different ball game. Smith got 47 (30), McCullum 49 (32), Raina 35 (22) and Finch 33 (19) — and they all got it in quicktime. The depth and capability of this line-up can see them challenge any team in the IPL and if they get on a roll, they will be tough to beat.