Rising Pune Supergiant won the toss and predictably opted to bat first. Gujarat Lions got of to a decent start. It was Ishant Kishan, who was the aggressor. McCullum on the other end was sedate. They were 24 off the first 3 overs. In the next 2 overs, they upped it even further and were 47 for no loss after 5 overs. Soon after that Imran Tahir was brought onto the attack and he struck straightaway, he sent Ishan Kishan packing for 31. That brought Suresh Raina walk out to bat. We got to see a different Brendon, he was selective with the balls he attacked and defended. Soon Shardul Thakur got rid of McCullum for 45 off 27 balls.
But it was Imran Tahir who wrecked havoc, he got Finch and Smith of consecutive balls Even then they were not having a problem with the run rate as that was healthy, they were 121 off 12 overs. Jadeja then took charge of holding the innings with Dinesh Karthik. Karthik was building the innings with ones and twos. Just when Jadeja was settling in he departed for 19 of the bowling of Dan Christian. They were 140 for 6 after 16 overs.
It was a complete #MahirTahir show at the MCA!
Our leading wicket taker put us right in the game & restricted GL to 161!#RangWahiJungNayi pic.twitter.com/ZKD8EHTujJ— RisingPuneSupergiant (@RPSupergiants) May 1, 2017
Imran Tahir picked up 3 wickets for 27 runs off 4 overs. The finishing kick was expected to come from Faulkner but he departed for 6 and that left Lions in tatters. they were also having a fright of getting bundled out at a certain stage. Sangwan could not manage to contribute he was out for one. Karthik tried but could not make the big hits coming. Karthik was runout for a valuable 29. RPS when they come out to bat they will need 162 to win.
