Savouring their first win in IPL 10, Gujarat Lions captain Suresh Raina on Friday said it was a difficult proposition for his side to make a strong comeback in the tournament, especially after ending up on the losing side in their first two games.
Gujarat Lions, who finished third in their debut season last year, comfortably defeated Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets to register their first win in the ongoing IPL.
It was difficult for us to comeback strongly after losing the two games.Suresh Raina
Raina was full of praise for debutant fast bowler Andrew Tye (5/17) who registered the second hat-trick on a single day for the first time in IPL history.
I thought AJ (Tye) bowled brilliantly. He is a very smart cricketer who varies his pace, especially in the death overs.
Man-of-the-match Andrew Tye, said slower delivery worked wonders for him. The Aussie, who is yet to make his Test debut for Australia, said:
It’s a good format of cricket, but traditionally, I would still love to play Test cricket. The slower ball worked very well for me.Andrew Tye
Raina also praised the opening duo of Brendon McCullum (49) and Dwayne Smith (47), who had set the platform for the comfortable chase with a 94-run opening stand.
Baz (McCullum) and Smith did it for us. They have done it for CSK and they did it again today.
Supergiant skipper Steven Smith said losing wickets in a heap after a good start held them back from posting a bigger total on the board, especially on a good batting wicket.
I don’t think that wicket really changed over the course of 40 overs. It was a pretty good wicket. We got ourselves into a good position but lost a few wickets in clumps and we weren’t good enough tonight. The surface played better than we thought it would. When Dwayne (Smith) and McCullum get going, it’s hard to stop them and we could not come back after that.Steve Smith
Visit The Quint’s IPL site for more.
Join The Quint on WhatsApp. Type “JOIN” and send to 9910181818
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)