IPL 2017 RPS vs MI: Pandya’s knock goes in vain as Smith guides Pune to emphatic victory with a six

Despite the extraordinary batting performance by the MI in the first innings. they couldn't save the game and lost to RPS

By: Score Keepers |
April 6, 2017 11:55 pm

It was a nail-biter face-off between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) in the second game of the Indian Premier League season 10 at Pune where the RPS defeated MI by 7 wickets. Despite the extraordinary batting performance by the MI in the first innings. they couldn’t save the game and lost to RPS.

After winning the toss, RPS skipper Steven Smith won the toss and elected to bat first. It was a surprise for the Mumbai fans as Jos Buttler came in to open the innings with Parthiv Patel instead of the captain Rohit Sharma. It was a fine start from the openers but soon the first dent came as South African spinner Imran Tahir, who went unsold in the auctions initially, to the first wicket. and then the typhoon arrived when Tahir took the next two scalps as well. RPS had the grip until it was the last over when Ashoke Dinda was Punished brutally by Hardik Pandya and a total of 34 runs came from that. Mumbai successfully managed to put a score of 184 on the scoreboard.

In the second innings, Ajinkya Rahane along with Mayank Agrawal opened the innings for RPS and they have a huge pile of 185 runs to chase. Rahane seemed aggressive right from the beginning and fitting into the format of this game, Rahane soon scored a half-century. After the dismissal of Mayank Agarwal, it was captain Smith who came in and took the charge. The target was high and balls were less but they needed to fight. After Rahane was out for 40, Smith took the voyage ahead with the most expensive player of this tournament, Ben Stokes. They both added a total of 50 runs before Stokes was caught and was dismissed for 21.

The game was dragged till the last over where the skipper himself replicated his mate at the other end i.e, MS Dhoni. Finally, the RPS clinched the game with 7 wickets and now at the second position in the points table.

Final Score:

MI: 184/7

RPS: 187/3

Glimpses from the presentation:

Man of the Match: Steven Smith

Valuable Player: Imran Tahir