Published: Apr 06, 2017, 11:45 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 07, 2017, 06:30 PM (IST)
Half-centuries from Ajinkya Rahane (60) and Steven Smith (84 not out) powered Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) to a 7–wicket victory in their first match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017, against Mumbai Indians (MI) at Pune. Chasing a stiff target of 185, RPS made a rollicking start with Rahane launching an attack against Mumbai Indians’ bowlers, stroking his way to his fastest IPL fifty — just a day after Yuvraj Singh registered a similar feat. Smith, who has been in a red-hot form, happily played a second-fiddle to Rahane but took charge once he was dismissed to finish off an impressive win, which was sealed with 2 sixes by Smith in a tense finish. Chasing 185, Pune scored 187 for 3 in 19.5 overs. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) vs Mumbai Indians (MI), IPL 2017 Match 2
Rahane remained the anchor of RPS’ run chase for more than half of their innings. His stroke-play was exemplary. Seeing his partner hit a six over cover region off Mitchell McClenaghan, Smith was more than happy to take the backseat and watch the show. Smith opened up only after Rahane was dismissed, and completed his half-century to mark a successful start for the RPS top-order. The only glitch, however, was the failure of Mayank Agarwal with the bat. He was dismissed for 6. FULL CRICKET UPDATES: Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) vs Mumbai Indians (MI), IPL 2017 Match 2
Rahane and Smith added 58 runs for the second wicket, putting RPS in a commanding position. Rotation of the strike was never going to be difficult for these two batsmen, but what turned out to be a treat was the stroke-play from the Rahane and Smith, right after an intense Test series between India and Australia.
Rahane had shown at Dharamsala that he was ready for T20 cricket with a quickfire 38 not out off 27 balls, and his approach was certified when he clobbered a delivery from McClenaghan over deep backward-point for a six.
But before that, Rahane had already raced to a 15-ball 28 with 4 boundaries and a six. Rahane began with 3 boundaries in the second over off Hardik Pandya to set the tone. In the next over — third of the innings — Rahane hammered a six and a four off Tim Southee to make his intentions clear.
This was when RPS lost Agarwal, and the scoring went down a little. But they resumed the attack soon, with Smith hitting a four off the first ball in the sixth over and Rahane following up with a six and a boundary. Rahane brought up his fastest fifty in IPL when he hit a four off Pandya in the ninth over, and soon managed to clear the bulky Pollard at long-on for another six.
Rahane fell in the 11th over with Nitish Rana, who scored 34 earlier in the game, took a diving catch in his front. However, the good effort was nullified soon when Rana failed to grab a chance on the final ball of the 13th over, giving Smith a lifeline when he was on 36.
Smith was joined in by Ben Stokes, who made 21 off 14 balls with 3 boundaries in his maiden IPL innings. Stokes could not last long, and was the third and the final wicket to fall as Smith and MS Dhoni (12 not out) finished off what turned out to be a tense end.
Needing 20 off 12 balls, Dhoni hit a boundary on the second last ball of the penultimate over to bring down the equation to 14 needed off 7. This is when Mumbai Indians made a mistake once again, with Southee dropping Dhoni at long-on. This left Pune another 13 runs to get in the final over.
Smith was belligerent in his innings and continued to make most of his form. He picked boundaries at regular intervals, but converting singles into doubles — a ploy used efficiently against India in the recent Test series — helped him garnering a lot of runs in the middle overs.
MI, who took the field without Harbhajan Singh, had Pollard to turn to for the last over. Pollard did well to take the pace off the ball, allowing only 3 runs off the first 3 balls. However, Smith, who does not seem to be getting anything wrong, was smart enough to pick the next two balls early and hammer them for two consecutive sixes. Smith finished on 84 not out off 54 balls, studded with 7 boundaries and 3 sixes.
Earlier, MI were powered by Hardik Pandya to a daunting total of 184 for 8. They added 57 runs off the last 5 overs, but 30 of them came in the last over. Pandya smacked 4 sixes and 1 boundary off the final over to provide his side the impetus. For Rising Pune Supergiant, Imran Tahir grabbed 3 for 28 off his 4 overs. MI were provided a strong start by Jos Buttler (19-ball 38), whereas Nitish Rana (34) and Pollard (27) anchored before Pandya’s onslaught in the final over shifted the momentum completely in their favour. Apart from Tahir, Rajat Bhatia did an impressive job with the ball, taking 2 for 14 off his 3 overs.
RPS had won the toss and elected to field first.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 184 for 8 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 38, Nitish Rana 34, Hardik Pandya 35*; Hardik Pandya 3 for 28, Rajat Bhatia 2 for 14) lost to Rising Pune Supergiant 187 for 3 in 19.5 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 60, Steven Smith 84*, Tim Southee 1 for 34) by 7 wickets.
Man of the Match: Steven Smith.
FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) vs Mumbai Indians (MI), IPL 2017 Match 2
