Dubai: Rising Pune Supergiant snapped the winning run of the Mumbai Indians through an exciting three runs victory at the Wankhede Stadium. Pune bowlers led by Ben Stokes with two wickets for 21 runs restricted Mumbai to 157 for 8.
A fighting knock of 58 runs from Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma off 39 balls with six fours and three sixes, went in vain.
Mumbai Indians had restricted Rising Pune Supergiant to 160 for 6 despite a good start from their openers Rahul Tripathi (45) and Ajinkya Rahane (38). Though the pair put on 76 runs in 9.3 overs, the fall of regular wickets restricted Pune’s run flow.
Chasing the target, Mumbai openers Parthiv Patel and Jos Buttler put on 35 runs in 4.2 overs before Ben Stokes had Buttler play into the hands of Washington Sundar at long on for 17. The inform Nitish Rana fell to Daniel Christian for only 3. When Sundar clean bowled Patel for 33, Mumbai slipped to 60 for 3 in 8.6 overs. When Stokes struck again to clean bowl Karn Sharma for 11, Pune began to take control.
Imran Tahir struck to dismiss Kieron Pollard for 9 and Pune needed 39 runs in 23 balls. Sharma reached his half century in 33 balls . Twenty four runs needed off the last two overs, Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat (2 for 40) bowled well to dash Mumbai’s victory hopes.
Earlier, Mumbai won the toss and elected to field. Rahane began by hitting the last ball of the first over from Mitchell Johnson for a six over the covers while his partner Rahul Tripathi hit Mitchell McClenaghan for two boundaries in the second over. Rahane’s boundary off Johnson in the third over past wide mid-off was beautifully placed.
Leg spinner Karn Sharma bowled a good fourth over giving just six runs and the half century partnership came in 6.2 overs. Harbhajan Singh, who was introduced in the seventh over gave away seven runs but McClenaghan, who bowled the eight over was hit for two successive boundaries by Tripathi, both through the third man region and when Rahane too punched him past mid-wicket for a boundary, 14 runs came off the over. Both the batsmen scored at the same pace when Sharma ended the partnership in the 10th over with a top spinner. The extra bounce hit the top portion of the bat and Rahane got caught and bowled for 38.
Tripathi hit his second six of the innings in the same over from Sharma. Harbhajan once again bowled a tight over giving away four runs in the 11th over. Skipper Steven Smith hit Sharma for a boundary past the bowler but in the same over, Tripathi fell, hitting straight to Pollard at long off for 45.
Sharma would have got the wicket of Smith to the next ball but Harbhajan dropped an easy catch off a leading edge at backward square leg. Smith celebrated his luck hitting the next ball for a boundary past mid-wicket.
Harbhajan clean bowled Smith who went for a pull shot too early for 17. It was Harbhajan’s 200th Twenty20 wicket.
Ben Stokes joined Dhoni but could not accelerate the run rate with Jasprit Bumrah and McClenaghan bowling tight overs. Johnson bowled Stokes for 17 in the 17th over and the run rate dipped drastically. Manoj Tiwary hit Johnson for two successive boundaries but Bumrah forced Dhoni to play on to his wicket in the 18th over for 7. Bumrah gave just five runs in that over.
In the final over, Pune went past the 150 run mark through Tiwari who hit Bumrah for two successive boundaries before being trapped leg before for 22.
Brief scores:
Rising Pune Supergiant bt Mumbai Indians by three runs. Pune 160 for 6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 38, Rahul Tripathi 45, Manoj Tiwary 22, Karn Sharma 2 for 39, Jasprit Bumrah 2 for 29) Mumbai 157 for 8 in 20 overs (Parthiv Patel 33, Rohit Sharma 58, Ben Stokes 2 for 21,Jaydev Unadkat 2 for 40).
