Leg-spinner Imran Tahir rocked the middle-order with a three-wicket burst to help Rising Pune Supergiant bundle out Gujarat Lions for 161 in their IPL match, here today.
The Lions were off to a flying start with Brendon McCullum (45) and Ishan Kishan (31) adding 55 quick runs for the first wicket after being asked to take first strike.
They kept a healthy run-rate till the half-way mark but lost wickets in a heap to lose way.
Tahir not only broke the opening stand but also got rid of Aaron Finch (13) and Dwyane Smith (0) in successive balls. The South African spinner conceded 27 runs in his four overs.
Lions could not exploit a good batting wicket and if it was not for Dinesh Karthik's sensible 29-run knock, they would not have put on board a respectable total.
Paceman Jaydev Unadkat (3/29) also took three wickets to wipe off the tail.
Kishan took some time to get his eye in but made up for the dot balls by hitting a few big shots quite comfortably. On the other end, McCulllum was on fire from the beginning, treating both spinners and pacers with disdain.
Kishan lofted Jaydev Unadkat and Washington Sundar for sixes in the square leg region. Ben Stokes was introduced early into the attack but McCullum had no problems in finding boundaries.
Lions raced to fifty in the sixth over but leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who bowled the last over in PowerPlay, brought relief for the hosts by scalping Kishan.
The South African also succeeded in creating pressure on Lions batsmen by bowling dot balls and soon rival captain Suresh Raina was run out.
Finch decided to take on Tahir and hammered him for a six over mid-wicket but the bowler had the last laugh as he caught and bowled the Australian. Tahir clean bowled Dwayne Smith with a googly in the next ball to stun the rival camp.
Lions had 94 runs on the board at half-way mark but had lost four key batsmen. McCullum was being troubled by Ben Stokes and was hit on the shoulder. The Kiwi was though dismissed by Shardul Thakur after miscuing one off paceman.
After that, James Faulkner (6) and Ravindra Jadeja (19) too departed soon to leave Lions struggling.
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