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Tye hat-trick sets up Gujarat batsmen to get off the mark

Australian bowler Andrew Tye

Gujarat Lions held their nerve after Andrew Tye took a hat-trick to secure a first win of the 2017 IPL, beating Rising Pune Supergiant by seven wickets in Rajkot.

A pasting at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders and defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad - each after batting first - left the Lions bottom of the table, but after winning the toss and opting to field they successfully chased down 172 on Friday to breathe new life into their campaign.

Tye came in as one of four changes and his hat-trick was remarkably the second of the day in the IPL, following Samuel Badree's for Royal Challengers Bangalore in defeat to Mumbai Indians.

Dwayne Smith (47) and Brendon McCullum (49) were blistering as they provided Gujarat with a super platform, with Aaron Finch (33) and Suresh Raina (35) calmly knocking off their target.

Pune had recovered from a dreadful start to their innings when a quick-footed Raina clung on at slip to remove Ajinkya Rahane for nought, but Steve Smith (43) and Rahul Tripathi (33) led a stubborn resistance, with Praveen Kumar's third over carted for 25 runs.

Once their partnership was broken, however, Pune could not regather momentum as Ben Stokes (25) and MS Dhoni (5) could not fire before Tye's triple strike in the final over left the hosts with all the momentum.

Dwayne Smith and McCullum certainly had impetus behind them, racing to 61-0 from the powerplay with brutish hitting down the ground.

Both fell agonisingly short of half-centuries, the West Indian skying to third man before McCullum was stumped looking to drill teenage spinner Rahul Chahar out the ground.

But Raina - on his 150th IPL outing - and Finch had enough experience to pick their shots, staying comfortably above the rate until the Australian decided to finish it with two monstrous sixes to end the 18th over, which delighted the home crowd.

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