IPL 2016, RPS vs GL: Gujarat Lions win CSK-Royals mish-mash

For all that machismo, he couldn’t have begun his innings in more bizarre fashion. It was a gentle in-swinger from RP Singh, typically coming into the right-hander half-way through after having started off on a slant because of the angle of release. Finch, who does have a penchant to jump across his crease, had already landed up on off-stump. And as he saw the ball duck in sharply, the bat never came down as you would expect it to considering that’s the natural reflex of any batsman. It wasn’t even like Finch was shouldering arms. Instead he let the ball hit him, almost as if he had been blind-sided, and for a while it looked like the umpire might respond in kind to RP’s vociferous appeal. But Finch survived. In many ways there was no looking back, quite literally, for the Lions.

Unfortunately for MS Dhoni & Co, they were blown away, as Finch produced his second straight man-of-the-match winning performance to give his team their second straight victory in their maiden IPL season.

Unlike McCullum, who loves to charge at the bowlers, Finch’s modus operandi is more about holding his position in the crease and attempting to hit the cover off the ball. There are occasions when he misses or doesn’t connect too well-50 per cent of the deliveries he faced were dot balls-but when he does, the ball either flies to the boundary or over it. And he especially got stuck into young leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin in the sixth over, smashing him for four fours, mostly through his favoured on-side to more or less demoralize the Pune bowlers for good. He eventually went onto score 50 off 36 balls.
Baz blazes away

Photos: Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum power Gujarat Lions to second win 

McCullum takes it a notch further, by adding massive dollops of impetuousness to his audacity, often showing the bowler a complete lack of respect. Whatever the outcome, he doesn’t let either the opposition or the spectator breathe easy. He showed his intent from the very first over, jumping out to RP Singh and launching him over mid-wicket. Baz then smashed the left-armer for two sixes in his next over, the first an incredible shot over point for six-even evoking a ‘wow’ from Steve Smith who was miked up and posted at point. He just kept swinging for the fences there on, and by the time he top-edged an on-the-charge pull off Ishant, he had sent Pune well on their way towards their first defeat in the IPL.

South Africa-inspired charge

It’s an unfathomable thought, but there’s a tantalizing possibility that Faf du Plessis and Kevin Pietersen will be batting together in Protea colours in a couple of years. While it remains to be seen whether KP does reignite his unscripted and enigmatic international career, the two South African-born right-handers gave a little preview as they came together after Ajinkya Rahane was trapped in front by Pravin Tambe.

If Pietersen oozes with class and his batting is all about lavish fluency, du Plessis can come across more like an artisan with the bat, getting into untoward positions while trying to force the ball. But it was South Africa’s T20 captain who took charge of proceedings, going after the Gujarat bowlers and connecting with three sixes within the first seven overs. Pietersen wasn’t to be left behind as he too got going as the duo put on a dominant 86-run stand for the second wicket.
Gujarat spinners pull it back

At the end of the 8th over, Pune were running away with the contest having galloped along to 76/1. Every over till this point had seen the ball scampering towards the fence or soar over it. But the hosts ensured that the Supergiants didn’t hit a boundary in five out of the subsequent seven overs as Jadeja and Tambe put on the brakes.

Read: IPL 2016: Gujarat Lions Make it 2/2

Jadeja worked with his angles of release and kept the right-handers guessing. It ensured that they couldn’t line him up and get under the ball, often ending up slicing the ball towards the off-side region without any great power. His two wickets too came the same way with Steve Smith aiming for long-off and instead finding deep extra cover, and Mitchell Marsh swinging and missing the ball completely. He also mixed in a few round-arm deliveries that only tied the Pune middle-order up even more, as Jadeja finished with amazing figures of 2/18 in his four overs in a match that was equally about even him stepping out of MS Dhoni’s shadow like Suresh Raina.

Tambe was his honest self with the ball, sticking to his tidy lines and lengths while making life uneasy for batsmen. He also deceived Pietersen in particular in the air on a couple of occasions as the ball pitched, gripped on the surface, and turned sharply. Du Plessis did get the better of him briefly with a four and a six off consecutive deliveries, but Tambe had the last laugh as he sent the South African back with a ball the zipped through off a lower trajectory, and had the charging batsman stumped to further dent Pune’s charge.