Gujarat Lions (GL) registered their first victory in IPL 2017 after beating Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) on Friday night at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium (Rajkot). After winning the toss, GL decided to bowl first. RPS managed to put 171/8 on the board at the end of 20 overs.

In reply, GL reached the target comfortably in 18 overs after losing 3 wickets. GL won this match by 7 wickets.

Brief Scores: Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) – 171/8 in 20 overs (Steven Smith 43, Rahul Tripathi 33, Andrew Tye 5/17)

Gujarat Lions (GL) – 172/3 in 18 overs (Brendon McCullum 49, Dwayne Smith 47, Shardul Thakur 1/14)

Result – GL won by 7 wickets

Here are some of the statistical highlights of the match:

GL pacer Andrew Tye took a hat-trick in this game. Here are some important stats of this hat-trick:

i) On his IPL debut, Tye became the first bowler to claim a hat-trick.

ii) Tye became the first bowler for GL to take a hat-trick. Overall, it was the 16^th hat-trick in IPL history.

iii) Tye became the second Australian bowler to take an IPL hat-trick. Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals) was the first Australian bowler to take an IPL hat-trick (against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Ahmedabad on 8^th May 2014).

iv) In the match between RCB vs MI earlier in the day, RCB bowler Samuel Badree had also claimed a hat-trick. It is the first time in IPL history where more than one bowler claims the hat-trick on a single day.

Debutant bowler Andrew Tye bowled superbly in this match as his bowling figure was 4-0-17-5. Here are some important stats of this bowling figure:

i) It is the best bowling figure by an IPL debutant bowler. The previous record holder was Shoaib Akhtar (Kolkata Knight Riders) with the figures of 3-0-11-4 (against Delhi Daredevils at Kolkata on 13^th May 2008).

ii) It is the best bowling figure by a GL bowler. Their previous best was 4/8 (4-0-8-4) by Dwayne Smith against KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) at Kanpur on 19^th May 2016.

Lions pacer Praveen Kumar was very expensive in this game as his bowling figure was 4-0-51-1. It is the most expensive bowling figure by a GL bowler. The previous record holder was Shivil Kaushik with the bowling figure of 3-0-50-0 (against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Bengaluru on 14^th May 2016)

After batting first, RPS scored 171/8 in 20 overs. It is the second highest 1^st innings total for any team against GL at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium (Rajkot). The highest total in this list is 180/2 by RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) on 24^th April 2016.

RPS leg-spinner Imran Tahir was also very expensive in this game as his bowling figure was 4-0-53-1. It is the second most expensive bowling figure by an RPS bowler. The most expensive bowling figure by an RPS bowler is 4-0-57-0 by Ashok Dinda (against Mumbai Indians at Pune on 6^th April 2017).

Lions won this match with 7 wickets and 12 balls to spare. It is the joint largest victory (by wickets) for GL. Exactly a year ago (on 14^th April 2016), GL also clinched a 7-wicket victory against the same team (RPS) at the same venue (Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot) and more coincidently the no. of balls remaining in the 2^nd innings was also same (12 balls remaining).