IPL 9 :Smith's ton in vein as GL beats RPS by 3 wickets

Source:BCCI 

Batting first Steve smith made his maiden ton in IPL
There were many firsts for Rising Pune Supergiants in the game against Gujarat Lions. The 111-run second-wicket stand between Ajinkya Rahane and Steven Smith was the first century partnership for the side, Smith became the first non-opener for the team to go past fifty and he eventually registered his maiden Twenty20 hundred. This was also the first time that a player scored a hundred for a team in the Indian Premier League (IPL), other than for the eight original franchises from 2008.

However, all those counted for little as the Lions held their nerve to clinch a last-ball victory. Despite posting a total of 195, the first occasion when they've scored in excess of 190, Pune ended up on the losing side. The disappointed centurion - Steven Smith - was left to bemoan the blazing start that Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith provided in the batting powerplay, when they came out all guns blazing to smash 72 runs.


"I thought 195 was a pretty good score and I think that the first six overs of their batting (made the difference). They came out and played their shots, got off to an absolute flier," Smith said in a post-match presentation, after his side succumbed to its fifth defeat in six games.


"I thought we were a bit disappointing with the way we bowled. I think we chopped and changed a little bit too much, rather than being nice and patient, bowling good balls and making them go after the good balls. Any time you do that your chances of taking a wicket (increase) and if you take a wicket up top, when you're chasing 195, it makes things very difficult," he added.


MS Dhoni & Co. have lost all the three matches in Pune so far, but Smith is not as much concerned about failing to make their home ground a fortress, as he is about their current precarious position in the points table.


"In a tournament like this it doesn't really matter where you play. It's about going out there on any given day, giving it your all. Some days you're going to lose games of cricket in IPL, that's part and parcel of it, it's all obviously about winning more to get yourself into that top four and at the moment we're not doing that and we've got a lot of work to do."


With one more game remaining for them at home, against Mumbai Indians, Smith is hopeful that the Pune can build some momentum, to have a real shot at making the playoffs. "It's obviously a very important one for us to win. We pretty much have to win most of our games from here on in, so hopefully we can turn the momentum around, get a few wins on the board in a streak and hopefully we'll go from there."