Dwayne Smith paid tribute to batting partner Brendon McCullum after Gujarat Lions squeezed out a sensational last-ball win over home team Rising Pune Supergiants in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Birthday boy James Faulkner may have hit the winning run at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, but it was amply evident who had actually won the game for Gujarat.
Openers Smith (63) and McCullum (43) put together an explosive 93-run stand in just 8.1 overs to set the foundation for the table-toppers after Pune had posted a daunting 195-3 on the board.
And even though the going got tough for the Lions over the course of the last 10-odd overs, following the dismissals of both batsmen, the momentum helped them hurtle towards a memorable win that has almost certainly knocked out MS Dhoni’s Pune side.
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“I enjoy opening, especially with Baz [McCullum],” West Indies batsman Smith said about the New Zealander at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“I hope we can continue doing that. It was great to see Baz take the mantle. I just had to sit back.”
Dhoni also agreed his team had lost the game in the first few overs of the Lions’ innings.
“First six overs, sixty runs, and it puts a lot of pressure,” the wicketkeeper said. “I feel we definitely need to improve our new-ball bowling. We should crack the code. Otherwise, we will be at the receiving end.”
Pune, languishing in sixth place, will especially be disappointed as their batsmen rose to the occasion after being put in, with Steve Smith (101) scoring his first Twenty20 hundred and Ajinkya Rahane (53) playing keeping him good company.
At the end of the night, however, classy batting by the pair was not enough as Gujarat found a way to beat their fellow debutants for the second time in IPL 9.
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