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Pune, April 29
Smith smashed 101 off just 54 deliveries as Pune posted a challenging 195/3 after being put in to bat. Gujarat Lions, however, capitalised on the 93-run opening stand between Smith (63 off 37 balls) and McCullum (43 off 22 balls) to pull off a thrilling win.
Captain Suresh Raina (34 off 28 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (33 off 20 balls) also made useful contributions. They amassed 51 runs for the third wicket, and took the team closer to victory.
The visiting side almost messed up the valiant chase towards the end as they lost the wickets of Dwayne Bravo (7), Ravindra Jadeja (0), Ishan Kishan (0) and Raina in quick succession.
But James Faulkner (9 not out) ensured they crossed the victory line on the last ball of the match.
Gujarat needed nine runs from the final over, bowled by Thisara Perera, but they lost Raina and Kishan in consecutive deliveries, and needed three runs from the last two balls. The penultimate delivery fetched two runs and Faulkner took a single off the last ball to take Gujarat to 196/7 and post their sixth win in seven matches.
With today's win, Gujarat consolidated their position at the top with 12 points from seven matches. Rising Pune Supergiants remained at the sixth spot with four points from seven matches.
Gujarat were off to a flier with Smith and McCullum butchering the Pune bowlers. The hard-hitting opening duo blazed to 72 without loss in the first six overs, hitting boundaries with impunity.
The opening pair took 24 runs off the third over bowled by Albie Morkel with McCullum hitting three fours and a six. In the next two overs, they collected 15 and 14 runs, respectively. McCullum was out in the ninth over with Rajat Bhatia giving Pune the much-needed breakthrough. The former New Zealand captain went for a slog sweep but his top edge landed in the safe hands of Morkel at short fine leg.
Unperturbed, Smith sent the next ball after McCullum's dismissal to the boundary to bring up his fifty off just 28 deliveries. Gujarat reached the 100-run mark in the ninth over but Smith was out in the next over as the West Indian inside-edged a Perera yorker on to the stumps. — PTI
Scoreboard
Pune
A Rahane run out 53
S Tiwary run out 1
S Smith b Bravo 101
M Dhoni not out 30
T Perera not out 3
Extras (LB-2 W-4 NB-1) 7
Total (3 wkts in 20 overs) 195
Fall of wickets: 1-13 2-124 3-188
Bowling
P Kumar 4-0-37-0
D Kulkarni 3-0-5-0
R Jadeja 4-0-37-0
S Kaushik 3-0-32-0
J Faulkner 2-0-22-0
D Bravo 4-0-40-1
Gujarat
D Smith b Perera 63
B McCullum c Morkel b Bhatia 43
S Raina not out 34
D Karthik c Rahane b Dinda 33
D Bravo c Dhoni b Dinda 7
R Jadeja run out (Dhoni) 0
J Faulkner not out 9
I Kishan run out (Tiwary) 0
P Kumar not out 0
Extras: (w 7) 7
Total: (7 wickets; 20 overs) 196
Fall of wickets: 1-93 2-115 3-166 4-180 5-180 6-193 7-193
Bowling
J Morkel 2-0-30-0
A Dinda 4-0-40-2
T Perera 4-0-41-2
R Ashwin 4-0-37-0
R Bhatia 3-0-26-1
M Ashwin 3-0-22-0
Man of the Match: Dwayne Smith
Today’s matches
Delhi vs Kolkata, 4pm
Hyderabad vs Bangalore, 8pm
Live on Sony Six
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