It was a battle between two of the newest members of the IPL – the Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants. Having played under MS Dhoni’s captaincy for most of his life, Suresh Raina found himself pitted against the 34-year old.
Earlier, Raina had drawn the first blood in Rajkot when Ravindra Jadeja and Aaron Finch helped the Lions breeze past Pune. On a completely different surface at the MCA Stadium, the left-hander won the toss and opted to chase.
Assisted by Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith’s brilliant century propelled Pune to a massive total. However, the Gujarat openers seized control of the match with a blazing start. Despite Dhoni‘s best efforts to spark a remarkable comeback, the Lions hung on and managed to crawl past the Supergiants in the final over.
Let us take a look at the most interesting statistics from the tense encounter.
1 – With a scintillating 101, Steve Smith scored his maiden hundred in T20s. Before this knock, his highest score was 90 from 138 Twenty20 matches.
3 – Half-centuries registered by Ajinkya Rahane from as many matches at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. His average at this venue is a healthy 63.50.
3 – Fifty-plus knocks played by Smith in the IPL. The pertinent aspect is that all of those scores have come in his last 16 innings while he could not score a single half-century from his first 30 attempts.
5 – Number of Chinaman bowlers who have taken part in the IPL. 20-year old Shivil Kaushik joined the likes of Simon Katich, Brad Hogg, Kuldeep Yadav and Tabraiz Shamsi.
7 – Instances where both opening batsmen were run out in an IPL innings. Both Rahane and Saurabh Tiwary fell short of the crease to make it only the second time in this season.
7 – Smith became the seventh Australian to score an IPL hundred. The others are Michael Hussey, Andrew Symonds, Adam Glichrist, Shaun Marsh, David Warner and Shane Watson.
10 – Number of IPL centuries scored by Australians in the IPL with Warner, Watson and Glichrist managing two hundreds each. Only Indian batsmen have done better with 13 tons.
37 – Runs conceded by three bowlers from their full quota of overs in this match. Praveen Kumar, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin had the same match figures of 4-0-37-0.
72 – Runs scored by Gujarat Lions in the Power Play which is their joint-highest in this IPL. In fact, no other team has bettered the Lions’ run-rate of 10.14 in the first six overs.
100 – Gujarat became the only team to score more than 100 runs from the first ten overs in this IPL. They have achieved this feat twice while no other team has even done it once.
111 – Partnership between Rahane and Smith which is the first century stand for the Supergiants. Before this, Rahane and Dhoni had put together 91 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
136 – IPL matches for the 34-year old Dhoni which is joint-second with Rohit Sharma’s tally. Only Raina has played more IPL fixtures than the two right-handers.
195 – Pune’s hefty total is the second highest in this IPL. Only RCB have topped the score during their 227 against the Sun Risers Hyderabad.
Check RCB Squad 2024 Details. Follow Sportskeeda for IPL 2024 Live Score, Schedule, Points Table
