Steve Smith bats, Steve Smith scores runs, Steve Smith wins matches for his team. The Rising Pune Supergiant won the first Maharashtra derby of IPL 2017 against the Mumbai Indians, thanks to an Indian stalwart, an Australian superstar and the South African master of celebrations.
After the Mumbai Indians managed to post a sizeable total, despite Imran Tahir's three-for, the pressure was back on RPS to knock down the runs, and knock them down they did, courtesy half-centuries from Ajinkya Rahane and Smith (84 n.o., 54b, 7x4, 3x6), with the latter taking the team home in the final over with two consecutive sixes.
Predictably, Mayank Agarwal (6, 5b, 1x4) was a bust at the top, playing a poor shot and throwing his wicket away, like he does so often. His opening partner – Rahane – however was in brilliant form, timing the ball to perfection to set the tone for the chase.
Once Smith came in following Agarwal's wicket, the experienced RPS duo put on a partnership of 58 to set the platform for their big-hitters/finishers to take them home.
Rahane (60, 34b, 6x4, 3x6) fell in the first ball of the second half of the innings, when a short ball from Tim Southee was pulled to Nitish Rana at deep square-leg, opening up the opportunity for the Rs 14 crore man – Ben Stokes – to pay back a bit of that money.
As good as Stokes is, though, Smith was going to be the key, and MI gave the RPS captain a life with Rana, who took a great catch to dismiss Rahane, dropping the Australian on 36.
What followed that drop was a four and a six and while Stokes (21, 14b, 3x4) fell a little while later, the RPS fans got their wish, watching MS Dhoni, the former captain, and Smith, the current skipper, batting together.
With the required rate hovering around the nine-ten mark, you would have expected Smith and Dhoni to cruise the chase, but there were a few hairy moments in there. Chief of them when Dhoni, after two dot balls and then a boundary, was dropped off the final ball of the penultimate over, bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, by Tim Southee.
That reprieve meant RPS needed 13 from the final Kieron Pollard over, with Dhoni (12, 12b, 1x4) and Smith in the middle, instead of 14 without MSD.
Three singles off the first three balls followed and then Smith got hold of one, and then another and the game was done.
The Mumbai Indians innings was up and down, with Jos Buttler getting them off to a splendid start, before Imran Tahir's spell threatened to break it all down, only for Pollard and Hardik Pandya to go slam-bang in style right at the end.
Buttler was sent in to open the innings with Parthiv Patel, and that plan turned out to be a really good one, with the Englishman enjoying the ball coming onto the bat and, as a result, scoring at a rate of knots.
Parthiv found the boundaries as well, as MI got to 41/0 in the first four overs. Then came the wickets which stopped the MI momentum a little bit, with Tahir picking up three wickets in two overs.
First to go was Parthiv (19, 14b, 4x4), who was bowled around the legs by the leg-spinner, with Tahir, only signed by RPS as a replacement for Mitchell Marsh, then picking up MI's two best batsmen in his second over.
Rohit Sharma (3, 7b), still feeling his way into cricket after a long layoff through injury, was castled by a ball that came in from Tahir, before Buttler (38, 19b, 3x4, 3x6), looking in brilliant form and primed for a big score, was unluckily given out lbw, with replays showing a big inside-edge. S Ravi was the man to get the decision wrong and he would prevent Tahir from getting his fourth wicket later in the innings, when he turned down an lbw appeal, despite Pollard being struck smack-bang in front.
With the big batsmen gone, Nitish Rana (34, 28b, 1x4, 2x6) did well to hold one end up, and while Ambati Rayudu (10, 12b) and Krunal Pandya (3, 5b) fell without troubling the scorers too much, Pollard (27, 17b, 3x4, 1x6) and Hardik Pandya (35, 15b, 1x4, 4x6) came in to give MI liftoff in the final overs. Hardik got most of his runs off the last over of the innings, with the MI all-rounder hitting Ashok Dinda for four sixes and a four in an over which went for 30 runs – the most expensive final over in IPL history.
That gave MI the momentum, momentum which was quickly snuffed out by Rahane and Smith.
Watch the highlights of the IPL 2017 match
Scores:
Mumbai Indians: 184/8 in 20 overs.
RPS: 187/3 in 19.5 overs.
Result: RPS won by seven wickets with one ball to spare.
Bowling: RPS: Ashok Dinda 4-0-57-0; Deepak Chahar 2-0-21-0; Ben Stokes 4-0-36-1; Imran Tahir 4-0-28-3; Adam Zampa 3-0-26-1; Rajat Bhatia 3-0-14-2.
Mumbai Indians: Tim Southee 4-0-34-1; Hardik Pandya 4-0-36-1; Mitchell McClenaghan 4-0-36-1; Jasprit Bumrah 4-0-29-0; Krunal Pandya 2-0-21-0; Kieron Pollard 1.5-0-30-0.
Fall of wickets: Mumbai Indians: 45/1, Parthiv Patel (4.2 overs); 61/2, Rohit Sharma (6.3 overs); 62/3, Jos Buttler (6.5 overs); 92/4, Ambati Rayudu (11.1 overs); 107/5, Krunal Pandya (13.2 overs); 125/6, Nitish Rana (15.3 overs); 146/7, Kieron Pollard (18.2 overs); 183/8, Tim Southee (19.5 overs).
RPS: 35/1, Mayank Agarwal (3.1 overs); 93/2, Ajinkya Rahane (10.1 overs); 143/3, Ben Stokes (15.2 overs).
