Ben Stokes played a special knock against Gujarat Lions on Monday bringing up his maiden Indian Premier League hundred and a crucial one that guided Rising Pune Supergiant to a five-wicket victory.After a top order collapse that saw Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi and Steve Smith fall with single digit scores and all in span of first two overs, Stokes held the Pune innings and played smart yet aggressive cricket hitting 6 sixes and 7 fours.Steve Smith praised Stokes for his innings and said that he made good use of the wicket.”It wasn’t an ideal start. We have some artillery in the shed. The partnership between MS and Stokes was magnificent; they took it deep. We know we can hit sixes here; one of the easier grounds in India to hit sixes and Stokesy made use of it.”Smith further went on to say that Stokes is a quality player and justified his record price tag of 14.5 crore.”Stokesy is a quality player and he certainly earned his cash. Fantastic player and very proud of him.”Smith also lauded the bowlers for restricting Gujarat to 162.”Great effort from the bowlers to pull it back. One of the balls hit the side of the hoarding, taking a chunk out of it, and the ball started reversing. That made things easier.”Smith hoped that they maintain the momentum and perform similarly ahead in the tournament.”The tournament is about peaking at the right time. Hopefully, it’s not too early. Five or six games in a row here. Hopefully we can keep that up.”advertisement