We fell short by 10 runs: du Plessis

Chennai

Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum played destructive knocks to guide Gujarat Lions to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Rising Pune Supergiants in the battle of debutants last night.

“Possibly 10 more runs would have been great for us, but we could not score enough runs and lost wickets towards the end,” Du Plessis told reporters at the postmatch press conference.

Chasing 164, Gujarat Lions rode on a powerful batting display to overwhelm the target with two overs to spare. Du Plessis added, “We  have some quality players who have the ability to score runs quickly but we could not do that as we wanted.”

Du Plessis was the top scorer for his side making 69 off 43 balls.

He said that the wicket at SCA was not difficult to play spinners, but Gujarat Lions bowlers bowled well and did not allow them to play freely.

“They have bowlers who have the ability to take pace off the ball, they bowl good cutters and slower ones in right areas and their spinners too bowled well and made it difficult for us to hit vfours and sixes in middle overs,” he said.

Ravindra Jadeja and Pravin Tambe took two wickets each while Ravindra Jadeja conceded only 18 runs in his four overs.

He praised the Gujarat Lions spinners for bowling to a tight line and length.