Mumbai Indians (MI) made heavy weather of what should have been a comfortable chase of 161 against Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS), losing the game No. 28 by a mere 3 runs in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017. An excellent bowling effort from Ben Stokes and a terrific catch to dismiss Hardik Pandya on the first ball of the final over turned the game into Rising Pune Supergiant’s favour. Rohit Sharma scored an fine half-century, but his effort went in vain as Mumbai Indians could never really get the big overs towards the end which could have taken them past the finish line. Mumbai Indians, thus, have lost only their second game out of eight so far in IPL 10.
Stokes returned with the figures of 4-1-21-2, whereas Jaydev Unadkat claimed 2 crucial wickets in form of Rohit and Hardik towards the end of the contest. With 24 needed off last two overs, Stokes’ penultimate over of the game was the game-changer, as he gave away a mere 7 runs which brought down the equation to 17 needed off the final six balls. Unadkat came on for the final over, and even he was hit for two sixes — one each by Rohit and Harbhajan Singh — RPS were able to prevail over Mumbai Indians and end their winning streak in the ongoing IPL 2017.
Once again, a late contribution from Manoj Tiwary came into spotlight as the right-handed batsman was solely responsible for taking RPS past the 150-run mark, smashing 4 boundaries to score 22 off a mere 13 balls.
Mumbai Indians began chase on a strong note, with both Jos Buttler and Parthiv Patel hitting boundaries early on. After a quiet first over, Buttler opened up with two consecutive boundaries off Shardul Thakur in the second over, and Parthiv smacked Washington Sundar for three boundaries in the third over to take Mumbai Indians off to a flier.
Rising Pune Supergiant struck early when Ben Stokes removed his England teammate Buttler, getting him caught at long-on which had been moved to that position only on that delivery. The delight was evident on Stokes’ face, who bowled a wicket maiden but not before some more suspense.
Stokes managed to induce an edge off Nitish Rana’s bat on the penultimate ball of the fifth over, but Manoj Tiwary struggled to collect the ball which dropped right in front of him. Luckily for the Rising Pune Supergiant, Rana did not hurt them a great deal, being dismissed for a mere 9-ball 3 by Dan Christian in the eighth over.
It looked like Rising Pune Supergiant will make life tough for the home side, when Sundar claimed Parthiv’s wicket on the final ball of his spell. Parthiv was cleaned up by the RPS spinner for a 27-ball 33, studded with 4 boundaries.
Rohit teamed up with Mumbai Indians’ debutant Karn Sharma to take his side ahead, and the captain took charge of the proceedings. Rohit cracked two boundaries off Imran Tahir’s over which was the tenth of the innings, and also hit Jaydev Unadkat for a boundary on the final ball of the next over.
Since Mumbai Indians were not chasing a huge target, the scoreboard pressure was never really on the home side which kept ticking the scorecard despite losing wickets on a regular basis. Stokes returned to claim Karn, with the batsman chopping one on to his wickets after a 10-ball 11 with the help of 1 six, hit in the previous over from Tahir. Karn also had luck on his side as before his dismissal, Tiwary had spilled a regulation catch at cover off Tahir.
This was when Pollard and Rohit joined forces to finish the job for Mumbai Indians. Pollard began by hitting Stokes for a boundary, whereas Rohit smacked a six and a four off Tahir in the 14th over of the innings. Rohit continued attacking the RPS bowlers as he hit Stokes for a boundary and then smacked Thakur for a six, whereas Pollard dealt in singles.
Pollard was dismissed at a crucial point. Tahir got the ball to turn away sharply and the batsman played it high in the air towards cover region. Smith covered a lot of ground and took a tumbling catch running towards his left, keeping RPS in the contest..
With 35 needed off last 18 balls, Rohit brought up his maiden half-century of IPL 10 in the 18th over, whereas Pandya struck two consecutive boundaries to keep Mumbai Indians in the contest. Stokes, who had earlier bowled a rare wicket-maiden in the contest, did not allow these two batsmen to open up, forcing them to take risks in the final over. Rohit fell for a 39-ball 58, studded with 3 sixes and 6 boundaries.
Earlier in the game, Mumbai Indians did well to restrict Pune Supergiant to a mere 160 for 6 in their allotted 20 overs. Apart from Ajinkya Rahane (38) and Rahul Tripathi (45), the RPS batsmen struggled to get going.
Stokes was adjudged the Man of the Match for his fine effort with the ball as well as in the field.
Brief scores:
Rising Pune Supergiant 160 for 6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 38, Rahul Tripathi 45; Karn Sharma 2 for 39, Jasprit Bumrah 2 for 29) beat Mumbai Indians 157 for 8 in 20 overs (Parthiv Patel 33, Rohit Sharma 58; Ben Stokes 2 for 21, Jaydev Unadkat 2 fopr 40) by 3 runs.
Man of the Match: Ben Stokes
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