Published: Apr 06, 2017, 06:30 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 07, 2017, 12:42 AM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCountry’s live cricket updates of Match No. 2 between Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) and Mumbai Indians (MI) of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017. The match will be played at RPS’ home ground (no, not R Premdasa Stadium because of its initials). However, why Mumbai are Indians (really, why?) and Pune the Supergiant (yes, singular) will be unveiled in today’s live blog. I, Aditya Sahay, will keep you guys entertained for the four-hour blockbuster, probably better than Rochelle Rao. I personally do not have a favourite IPL team, but I would like to see how Dhoni would curb his instincts from calling the shots, for the RPS management replaced him with the Australian Steven Smith. Full Cricket Scorecard, Rising Pune Supergiant vs Mumbai Indians, IPL 10, Match 2
Never have I ever imagined Dhoni not captaining in IPL — his very own paradise. If anything, we won’t see Ravi Shastri say, “MS to spin the coin.” But come on, the scorecard will read MS Dhoni (c&wk). Anyway, I should not let the fanboy inside me get carried away. I hope he uses his bat as a mace and bludgeons the opposition. However, let us not disregard the fact that Dhoni will face Lasith Malinga, the very gentleman who troubled him with away yorkers in the ICC WT20 2014 final. But again, Dhoni has practiced scything deliveries past point in the past year or so. He may not be the brute force anymore, but he indeed is more effective. All in all, the sheen has not yet worn off.
This is not only about Dhoni. There is about Ben Stokes as well. He will be making his debut in this Indian T20 spectacle — the league that his very own country criticised once for its dynamics spoiling the real essence of cricket. Nevertheless, that ship has sailed and the English cricketers love participating in it.
As I write this, my colleague Kaustubh S. Mayekar says that he is even more excited to see Rohit Sharma back in the thick of action. No doubt that we have not seen Hitman’s outstanding strokeplay for a while now.
All in all, it promises to be an enthralling contest.
Squads:
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (c), Jos Buttler (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Nicholas Pooran (wk), Krishnappa Gowtham (wk), Ambati Rayudu (wk), Lendl Simmons (wk), Kulwant Khejroliya, Karn Sharma, Saurabh Tiwary, Asela Gunaratne, Mitchell Johnson, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell McClenaghan, Shreyas Gopal, Siddhesh Lad, Vinay Kumar, Kieron Pollard, Krunal Pandya, Tim Southee, Lasith Malinga, Jagadeesha Suchith, Nitish Rana, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, Jitesh Sharma, Deepak Punia
Rising Pune Supergiant: Steven Smith (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Mayank Agarwal, Baba Aparajith, Ankush Bains, Ankit Sharma, Rajat Bhatia, Deepak Chahar, Daniel Christian, Rahul Chahar, Ashok Dinda, Faf du Plessis, Lockie Ferguson, Usman Khawaja, Jaskaran Singh, Saurabh Kumar, Ben Stokes, Milind Tandon, Manoj Tiwary, Jaydev Unadkat, Adam Zampa
