On This Day: Steve Smith scored maiden T20 century vs Gujarat Lions in Pune

Steve Smith scored maiden T20 century: Former Pune batsman’s maiden century in the format ended up in a losing cause.

On this day in 2016, the then Rising Pune Supergiants batsman Steven Smith registered his maiden T20 century during the 25th match of the ninth season of the tournament against Gujarat Lions in Pune.

Coming in to bat at No.3 in the third over, Smith commenced his innings by flicking a Praveen Kumar delivery towards the fine leg region for a boundary. Smith started Kumar’s third over by hitting him through the cover for a boundary. On the following delivery, Smith played a replica of the first ball that he faced to score his third boundary.

Smith, then 26, found his fourth boundary on the last ball of the powerplay as Supergiants scored 48/1 in six overs. Respecting the senior spinner in Ravindra Jadeja initially, Smith then attacked Lions’ Shivil Kaushik as he hit him for four a four and a six in his first two overs.

On the first delivery of the 12th over, Smith ran a single off Gujarat all-rounder Dwayne Bravo to complete his half-century. The right-hand batsman celebrated the milestone by hitting his Australian teammate in James Faulkner for a four and a six in the 13th over.

It was in Jadeja’s third over that Smith hit him for a six over the long-off fielder before hitting another six down the ground off Kaushik.

Steve Smith scored maiden T20 century

The race between Smith’s century and Pune’s double century was won by Smith on the second delivery of the last over when he hit a four against Bravo towards the mid-wicket region. Smith, who was dismissed on the delivery after completing his century, ended up scoring 101 (54) with the help of eight fours and five sixes.

A quickfire 93-run opening partnership between Dwayne Smith (63) and Brendon McCullum (43) laid the foundation for other Gujarati batsmen to seal a 196-run target on the last delivery of the match.

Smith, who went on to captain Pune in 2017, scored 742 runs in 23 matches at an average of 41.22 and a strike rate of 131.79 including a century and three half-centuries for them.