Due to poor display of batting, Mumbai Indians (MI) lost the qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season 10 by 20 runs against Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 16. With this emphatic win, RPS are through to the final of IPL 2017 to be played on May 21 at Hyderabad.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and invited Steven Smith-led RPS side to bat first. Pune were off to a horrendous start losing the in-form opener Rahul Tripathi for a duck and Steve Smith who could score just a single. Both the batsmen were back to the pavilion in the opening two overs. Then, Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary provided the team a much-needed partnership as they both scored half-centuries to get RPS inning back on track.
Manoj Tiwary, who showed his temperament when the situation demanded, played a sensible inning of 58 off just 48 balls before he got run-out on the last ball of the inning. During his stay at the crease he struck 4 fours and 2 sixes. Wherein, Ajinkya Rahane too played the vital knock of 43-ball 56.
Then came former Indian skipper M S Dhoni at number 5. He struggled at the start but quickly turned the things around in Pune’s favour as he played an important knock 40 not-out off just 26 balls starting his rampage in the 19th over to help RPS post a fighting total of 162 runs on the board. His inning was laced with 5 massive sixes.
For Mumbai Indians, Mitchell McClenaghan, Lasith Malinga and Karn Sharma took one wicket each.
In reply, Mumbai Indians kept losing wickets at the regular intervals. Apart from Parthiv Patel no other batsman could manage to trouble the Pune bowlers. Parthiv, who played the knock of 52 off just 40 balls, kept losing partners at the other end. Mumbai could only manage to score 142 for 9 in their full quota of 20 overs.
For RPS, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur were the pick of bowlers for claiming 3 wickets each.
Rising Pune Supergiant became the first team to enter IPL 2017 finals. This season’s finale will be held at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on May 21.
