Rising Pune Supergiants

Rahul Tripathi - (7/10)

Steve Smith - (7/10)

The skipper led from the front yet again as his tremendous form with the bat continued. He announced his presence on the crease by dismissing a swinging Praveen Kumar delivery to the boundary. The Aussie scored at a great pace and scored 30 out of his 43 runs in the form of boundaries. Smith got out playing a bad shot and seemed disappointed with himself. The skipper deserved a half-century.

The Englishman played his part with the bat scoring 25 off 18 balls and was the only one who the Gujarat openers struggled to attack. Stokes ended up conceding 18 runs off his three overs, with 10 of these coming in the last one.

Manoj Tiwary - (5/10)

Mahendra Singh Dhoni - (3/10)

What has happened to Mahendra Singh Dhoni? Yet again the former Indian captain failed to deliver when it mattered for the team scoring a mere 5 runs off 8 deliveries. He has scored an aggregate of 33 runs in four games so far and if Pune want to make it to the playoffs, MSD really needs to pick up his form. 

Ankit Sharma would try and forget this match given his mediocre performance with both the bat and the ball. While he got the momentum with 2 boundaries and a six, he failed to capitalize on that. He also gave away 16 runs in the solitary over he bowled. High time he buckles up to justify his place in the starting 11.

Shradul Thakur - (7/10)

Lockie Ferguson - (4/10)

On his season debut in the IPL, Ferguson gave an abject performance conceding 44 runs in his quota of 4 overs. It is highly unlikely that the Kiwi will be able to hold on to his spot for the Bangalore game on Sunday.

Rahul Chahar - (6/10)

While he did give away 26 runs in three overs, with his incredible dive across the ropes to save a six by McCullum, and then topping it by dismissing the Kiwi swashbuckler in the very next over, Rahul does emerge as a supporting actor worthy of a pat on the back.

He was the man that Pune were looking towards to get them back in the game. But as it turned out he was just the man Pune didn’t want in their team today. The South African conceded 53 runs in his allotted overs while claiming the scalp of Karthik, for which the celebration was well over the top.

Gujarat Lions

The top-order batsman had a good all round performance. Giving away just 10 runs in 2 overs while dismissing the indefatigable Steve Smith certainly, deserves credit on its own. The West Indian followed this with an explosive innings, scoring 47 and taking Gujarat to their first victory in this IPL. 

Brendon McCullum - (8/10)

Suresh Raina - (7/10)

The skipper did a decent job and carried his team across the line by scoring 35 runs off just 22 balls. After two back to back losses, the former CSK star would finally be looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

The wicketkeeper-batsman came in when Gujarat were cruising towards a win but was dismissed for just 3 by Tahir. Everyone is afforded an off day, particularly when most of your teammates are bang on form.

Aaron Finch - (8/10)

Ishan Kishan - (5/10)

With the top order finishing the job nice and smooth, Ishan didn’t get to play a part in today’s victory. Half of him must be disappointed. 

Giving away 40 runs in 4 overs was definitely not how Sir Jadeja must have hoped to start off his IPL sojourn. While he did get Dhoni out, that surely doesn’t stand for much off late. 

What a start to the IPL season for the Aussie pacer who was in a league of his own league today. Before the game, all the talk was about Badree’s hat-trick against Mumbai but stole the West Indian’s thunder with a treble of his own and finished with figures of 5/17. 

Praveen Kumar - (4/10)

Basil Thampi - (5/10)

21 runs in 3 overs is what one would call a respectable performance in an IPL match. A wicket, however, would have certainly helped.

The slow-left arm bowler wasn’t shown much mercy, being smacked away for 11 runs in each of his two overs. He was unable to create any pressure on the batsmen and contributed to Pune scoring 171.

MATCH KA HERO - ANDREW TYE