IPL 2017 | Ben Stokes ton sees Pune beat Gujarat in thriller

05/01/2017

Ben Stokes justified his 14-crore price tag as he scored an incredible 62-ball century to lead RPS to a brilliant 5 wicket win over GL. Chasing a target of 162, Stokes walked in with Pune struggling at 10/3 and played till the end to take his side to within a point of third-placed Hyderabad.

Brief Scores : Gujarat Lions 161/10 (Brendon McCullum 45, Ishan Kishan 31; Imran Tahir 3/27, Jaydev Unadkat 3/29) lost to Rising Pune Supergiant 167/5 (Ben Stokes 103*, MS Dhoni 26; Pradeep Sangwan 2/38, Basil Thampi 2/35) by 5 wickets.

Steve Smith, after electing to field first, announced that Deepak Chahar and Lockie Ferguson had been replaced by Shardul Thakur and Ben Stokes for the game against Gujarat. Suresh Raina too confirmed that his side would have two different faces from the one that lost in the Super over against Mumbai with Pradeep Sangwan and Dwayne Smith coming in for Irfan Pathan and the injured Andrew Tye.

Imran Tahir rescues Pune after early Kishan-McCullum blitz

Gujarat got off to a flyer through Brendon McCullum, whose two boundaries in the very first over put 11 runs on the scorecard. Ishan Kishan could only manage a single off a Washington Sunder over, but soon he too joined the party by hitting Jaydev Unadkat for a six over deep square leg and the visitors reached a score of 46/0 in just 5 overs. With both batsmen scoring freely, Smith brought on his reliable wicket taker, Imran Tahir, and the South African yet again did the job for his team as he sent Kishan packing for 31. Even though Raina fell cheaply a couple of overs later, McCullum kept putting runs on the board as Gujarat reached 86 off nine overs. But the next over proved to be their downfall as Tahir dismissed both Aaron Finch and Dwayne Smith on back-to-back deliveries consolidating Pune’s position in the game.

Pune restrict Gujarat to a sub-par score

McCullum, too, could just add just another six runs to the total before he mistimed a Thakur ball into the hands to Rahane at deep cover. With half the team back in the dressing room, Ravindra Jadeja and Dinesh Karthik slowed down the run rate but their 26-run partnership, off 18 balls, came to an end when Jadeja top-edged a catch into the hands of Unadkat at short fine leg. Over the next two overs, Gujarat scored 11 runs and with the scoreboard reading 146/6 and three overs to go, they looked set to post a competitive target. However, over the next three overs, the Lions could only manage 15 runs while losing their remaining 4 wickets setting Pune a sub-par target of 162.

Early wickets bring Gujarat back into the game

Chasing the modest target, Pune got off to the worst possible start losing both Rahane and Steve Smith in the first over. Three balls into the second over, Manoj Tiwary was sitting alongside Smith in the dressing room after being caught plumb by Basil Thampi. Surprisingly, it was Stokes who came out to bat instead of MS Dhoni, but the Englishman proved his credentials as he quickly raced to 21 off 15 balls. But a rush of blood to the head from Stokes and a brain fade by Rahul Tripathi, compounded with a dead accurate throw by Finch brought an end to the 32-run partnership between the duo and left Pune reeling at 43/4 after the powerplay overs. Gujarat put even more pressure on the home side by giving away just 9 runs in the next three overs but Stokes took 15 runs off a Jadeja over to ease a bit of the pressure and set his side a target of 95 off the last 10 overs.

Ben Stokes provides a consummate finish

Four overs later, though, the required run rate reached 12 runs an over after the Pune duo scored just 23 runs as the Gujarat spinners were proving to be a tough nut to crack. Dhoni, in particular, took his time to settle as he could manage only 15 runs of his first 26 balls when the required run rate was at 12 climbing beyond. Having seen teams - cue RCB - make the mistake of leaving the power hitting to too late, MS Dhoni made the conscious decision of attacking the Gujarat bowlers starting with Faulkner who leaked 12 runs in the 15th. Dwayne Smith, then cost his team another 16 in the very next over as Pune appeared to be in the ascendancy but Dhoni’s 26-run innings was brought to an end when he was caught at long off by McCullum. Needing 36 off 18 balls, the odds seemed to be stacked against Pune but Ben Stokes scored 25 in 11 to secure a win for the Supergiant with a ball to spare.