Tye picks up 2nd hat-trick of IPL to restrict RSP to 171/8

RAJKOT, April 15: Debutant Andrew Tye registered the second hat-trick of the day to enable Gujarat Lions restrict Rising Pune Supergiant to 171 for eight in an Indian Premier League match on Friday.

Right-arm pacer Tye, playing his first IPL match, returned with impressive figures of 5 for 17 from his four overs to keep Supergiant undercheck, especially after a blazing start by opener Rahul Tripathi (33 off 17) and skipper Steven Smith (43 off 28).

Tye’s was the second hat-trick of the day in the history of IPL after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Samuel Badree (4/9) achieved the feat earlier in the day against Mumbai Indians in a losing cause.

Electing to bowl, Gujarat Lions got off to a prefect start as veteran Praveen Kumar (1/51) removed dangerous Ajinkya Rahane for a duck with the third ball of the innings.

The credit for the dismissal should go to Gujarat Lions skipper Suresh Raina who pulled off a one-handed blinder at the first slip from a good length delivery that came in after pithing and cramped the batsman for room only to induce an outside edge.

Therefater, Supergiant skipper Smith and Tripathi took the attack to the opposition and stitched quick 63-run partnership off just 32 balls to take Gujarat forward.

Tripathi smacked Praveen for two consecutive sixes and a four and then Smith hit the bowler two consecutive boundaries to pick up 25 runs from the fifth over.

But Tye put the brakes on the scoring with a slower delivery by removing the dangerous-looking Tripathi in his first over as the batsman went for another huge shot only to lift the ball as far as mid-off into the safe hands of Aaron Finch.

Smith was the next to depart when he mistimed a Dwayne Smith delivery to Finch at long-on with the Supergiant scoreboard reading 89 for two in 9.2 overs.

Tye once again came to the party when he went through the defence of Ban Stokes in the 13th over.

Under-fire Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s (5) woeful run in the tournament continues as he lasted a just eight deliveries, caught in plumb in front of the wicket by Ravindra Jadeja (1/40).

Manoj Tiwary (31) and Ankit Sharma (25) then added valuable 47 runs for the sixth wicket to push Supergiant’s forward.

But Tye left his best for the last over of the innings and dismissed Ankit, Tiwary and Shardul Thakur with the first three balls to halt Supergiant’s surge.

Tye was at his effective as he deceived the batsmen, who went for big shots, with best with his slower balls that includes his famous knuckle delivery.

Tye was unlucky not to get his sixth wicket of the day in the form of Rahul Chahar as Jadeja dropped a simple chance in the final delivery of the innings.PTI