Christian seals it for Pune with a six over square leg. Length ball, seam-up, angled in, Christian holds his shape and bludgeons it into the stands
Guj Lions vs Supergiant, 39th match at Pune, May 01 2017 - Ball by Ball Commentary
Supergiant won by 5 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)
11.30pm Stokes lets out a big roar and swipes his bat on the floor again. He simply owned the MCA Stadium tonight. Rising Pune needed 162. Stokes alone smashed an unbeaten 103 even as wickets fell around him.
He came into bat in the second over after Pune had lost Rahane, Smith, and Tiwary. He found his groove right away and hit his fifty off 38 balls. MS Dhoni started slowly again and continued to struggle as the asking rate ballooned. Stokes, however, pricked that balloon, reaching his second fifty off 23 balls.
It boiled down to 44 off 23 balls after Dhoni holed out to long-off. While Stokes pulled out all the stops, Christian did his bit by not playing a single dot. He kept turning the strike over to Stokes. This result now means RCB are out of the tournament.
Raina: The last over he did not bowl out. The dew was there when Basil and Jimmy were bowling. Credit to Stokes. We did not much power in the spinning department, but Stokes did well. I would say we were 25-30 runs short. We kept losing wickets and we were all out. Still I think we bowled well in the first six overs. The way Stokes was hitting was the turning point. The way he was hitting, clean strikes. Still we have four games left. Hopefully things will turn out better for us.
Smith: It wasn't an ideal start but we have some artillery in the shed. MS and Stoksy took it deep. It is one of the easier ground to his sixes and Stokesy made use of it. I thought it was a great effort for the bowlers to pull it back to 160. One of the balls hit the side of the hoarding, taking a chunk out of it, and the ball started reversing. We are peaking at the right time, hopefully not too early. As I said, Lockie was unlucky to miss out. Stoksy is a quality player and he certainly earned his cash. Fantastic player and very proud of him.
Stokes, of course, is the Match of the Match: It's just a cramp in the calf. The legs aren't alright but it will be alright in the morning. We lost quite a few early wickets... me and MS just tried to keep it ticking. Numbers game: we just tried to go big at the start of the over and cool it off (what was the plan?). I actually think it did me good (the niggle) and I had a rest. Maybe I was doing some training that did not benefit me. I just let my natural instincts to take over.
This is Stokes' third Man-of-the-match award this season, more than any other player. Gee! that was some innings. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did bringing it to you. Until next time, goodbye and cheers!
India's Shiv Kapur won the Yeangder Heritage golf tournament in Taiwan on Sunday -- his first win on the Asian tour for 12 years. He told our sister site ESPN.in how he overcame his self-doubts and even took help from Robin Uthappa and Dean Jones.
Sauharda: "Had Christian hit that last ball for 4, today matches would have been won coincidently in similar fashion; same numbers of wickets down and same runs on the board. #justathought"
Siddarth: "Bowling his 4 overs with many balls over 140 and then coming back to score a century to win the game. Its a super human stuff. Take a bow, Ben Stokes "
Amar: "Dhoni may have been slow but it made the Pune innings stable. The Dhoni-Stokes partnetship of 76 runs was critical."
Vinod Rajpal: "The Million $ show , Thank U Ben...."
back of the hand slower ball on off stump, whipped down to long-on
short and wide outside off, Christian cuts a single to sweeper cover
srini: "Pacing of the innings, picking the right balls to hit, keeping cool ....absolute brilliance...this innings from Stokes."
Stokes pre-meditates, aims a reverse sweep and misses. Takes it on the pad and hobbles across for a leg bye
Stokes raises his maiden T20 hundred in style. What an innings. Million-dollar innings. Overpitched and outside off, Stokes sizes it up and flat-bats it through the covers. He swipes his bat on the floor and celebrates. Stokes, bad calf and all, is doing it for Pune
Faulkner to bowl the last over. Pune need 8 off the last over
Only five scores of 90 or over have come in losing chases in IPL
length ball outside off, carved through the covers. Stokes gets himself back on strike.... and collapses at the non-striker's end. Looks like he is suffering from cramps
slower ball, 120ks outside off. Stokes manufactures all the pace. Just brute power. The length is short and outside off, flat-batted straight of long-off
slower full ball on off, 90ks, Christian picks it and shovels it away to deep midwicket
slower back of a length ball on off, flat-batted fiercely down to long-off
short and wide outside off, powerfully swatted away between deep midwicket and wide long-on. Jadeja tears across to his left from wide long-on, slides and pulls the ball back into the field of play. Sublime fielding from Jadeja. Saves two
Stokes clears Baz at long-on. Low full-toss outside off, Stokes swings for the hills. Does not middle it. Gets the result he wanted, though
Pune need 25 off 12 balls. Thampi has one over left. Who will bowl the other. Faulkner or Smith or Jadeja? Thampi to bowl the penultimate over
just short of a good length and outside off, flat-batted to cover
full-toss on middle, mowed away over midwicket. Smith runs across to his right from the deep, and pushes the ball back into the field of play. Keeps Stokes down to two
much better. Very full and bang on off stump, driven down to long-off
seam-up, short and wide outside off, Christian cuts it away to the right of a diving Faulkner at backward point
Baz runs in from long-on but this skier lands in front of him. Chjristian had no clue about this offcutter. He was into the shot too early and gets away
near yorker, swings in on off, shovelled down to long-on
Akash Sharma: "That must be the biggest slow ball in term of lace variation. Thampi usually bowls at North of 140. That bowl was a mere 85. A difference of whopping 55 kmph. Just freaking awesome..." --- Here is Sangwan
Samrat Ahuja: "Hats off to the IPL scouts! Unearthed talents like Thampi, Siraj, Soni and Natarajan out of obscurity... "
slower, back of a length and outside off, Stokes picks it, and punches to cover
bashed down the ground. Full and outside off, Stokes nails it over the bowler's head and beats long-on to is right
another slower ball, 89ks, tickled behind square
Over 20 • RPS 167/5
Supergiant won by 5 wickets (with 1 ball remaining)