IPL: Rising Pune Supergiant beat Gujarat Lions

Match scores 

Result: Rising Pune Supergiant won by five wickets

Gujarat Lions inns: 161 all out (McCullum 45)

Rising Pune Supergiant inns: 167-5 (Stokes 103)

Match report

Ben Stokes blasted his maiden Twenty20 hundred despite a calf concern to lead Rising Pune Supergiant to an Indian Premier League victory over Gujarat Lions.

The competition's most expensive foreign player was back after missing two games with a shoulder injury, and he lived up to his £1.7million price tag with a brilliant unbeaten 103 as RPS chased down 161 to win by five wickets.

Stokes' knock, which came from 63 deliveries and included seven fours and six maximums, was even more remarkable in that he came in with his team 10 for three and had to fight through cramp in his calf which required treatment out in the middle prior to the last over.

It was the fourth century of this season's IPL and only the second ever by an Englishman after Kevin Pietersen also made 103 in 2012, while it also shattered Stokes' previous Twenty20 best of 77 which he made on his Big Bash debut in 2015.

"We lost quite a few early wickets, that start didn't help us, but me and MS (Dhoni) were just trying to tick along and get something going, and then try and capitalise in the end," Stokes said in a post-match interview broadcast on Sky Sports.

"We took it like a numbers game, over by over, realised what we got, tried to go big at the start of the over and if we got there we tried to cool off. It worked - one of the good days.

"It's always nice, personal accolades, but we're on a roll as a team and if we keep winning these tight games hopefully we can get through to the final."

On his injury, Stokes added: "It was just cramp in the calves, just one of those things, I get it quite a lot. My legs aren't feeling the best but they will be alright in the morning."

Stokes was only on 26 when he was involved in a mix-up with Rahul Tripathi that saw the latter run out, though it could easily have been his partner had he not scampered through for an attempted second.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Stokes then came together and put on 76 and though it still looked like a tall order, the IPL's most pricey foreign import cut loose alongside Daniel Christian, who won it with a maximum off the penultimate ball.

Earlier, Pune's Imran Tahir had taken 3-27 and Jaydev Unadkat 3-29 to help dismiss Gujarat for 161 after they were put into bat.

Openers Brendon McCullum (45 off 27) and Ishan Kishan (31 off 24) got the Lions off to a terrific start with a 55-run stand in the opening six overs, though the latter fell to the final ball of the powerplay.

The innings stalled somewhat thereafter, with skipper Suresh Raina run out for a run-a-ball eight, while Tahir accounted for Aaron Finch (13) and Dwayne Smith off consecutive deliveries to end the 10th.

Lacking the lower-order firepower, Gujarat could only muster 67 runs from the second half of their innings - Dinesh Karthik's 26-ball 29 the most notable effort - and their total proved to be no match for super Stokes.