IPL 2017, Match 2, RPS vs MI: CT Player of the match – Steve Smith

Rising Pune Supergiant were finding it hard to catch the pace of the tournament last year but with a couple of changes and some good money spent, they have finally arrived. It is a bit early to say that they are one of the strong contenders but with Steve Smith in that kind of form and Ajinkya Rahane not far off, RPS do look like a strong side.

Today they were right on the money while Mumbai, as usual, missed the early bus. Rising Pune Supergiant were helped by the fact that Mumbai have not won their first game in the IPL since 2013. Right from winning the toss to finishing the game in style, Steve Smith did it all. Pune has been extremely lucky for him as he scored his first century of the Australian tour at the same venue. But today Smith was a different beast, he just smacked the bones out of every ball he struck.

That said, Steve Smith is CricTracker’s player of the match and there wouldn’t have been any other.

Carried his Test form into the T20 with utmost ease

Steve Smith is in form of his life and anyone who is following cricket would tell you that he is one of the best batters in the world right now. He showed that during the Test series against the Indians where he scored 499 runs in four Tests at an average which is well over sixty. And for a man who has not played a T20 game for almost a year to come in and play an innings like that is fantastic.

He just went from Test cricket mode to Twenty20 mode like it was just a flip of the switch but like the man himself said, “Form is form no matter which format you play” Steve Smith just bludgeoned the Mumbai Indians bowlers today.

Played himself in and then took the initiative

Smith sometimes tries and over implies himself at the crease but today he was spot on with his acceleration. When he came to bat Ajinkya Rahane was batting extremely well and Smith took advantage of the situation and played himself in.

He was scoring run-a-ball until Rahane got out and then took the game on from there. He was at 24 off 23 deliveries and scored the next 60 runs in just 31 deliveries which took his team home. The time he took for getting himself in was calculated well by the skipper of Pune and made up for all the dots in the first half of his innings.

Scored a brilliant half century

Steve Smith made his IPL debut on the same day against the same opposition five years ago for the same city. He made a handy 39 of 32 deliveries then and was playing under an Indian great Sourav Ganguly. Today he was the captain of the same city he then represented and played match-winning innings of 84* of just 54 deliveries.

He smacked seven gracious boundaries and three of the most needed sixes in the process of bringing up his fifty. The 27-year-old lost two partners who were hitting the ball well but he kept on going ensured that his team’s first win of the season.

Finished the game off with two brilliant sixes

It would generally be MS Dhoni hitting the sixes and winning the game for his team but today the former captain of Pune was struggling with the bat. As Smith mentioned at the end of the game that it was hard to come in and play the strokes straight away, Dhoni could not get the connection right.

Hence, it was left with Steve Smith to finish the game. 13 were needed off the last over and it started well for Mumbai as it came down to 10 off just 3 deliveries. Smith was on strike as Dhoni failed to finish it off. He took it to himself and hit Pollard for a huge six over long on. He dragged the slower one which was bowled outside off to the leg side. It was 4 from two deliveries and he smashed the next ball for six as well. This one went over mid-wicket.

It was game set and match for Rising Pune Supergiant as they won the Maharashtra Derby fair and square, thanks to a brilliant performance from Steven Smith.

This performance has earned the Rising Pune Supergiant skipper 4.5 stars out of 5. A fantastic debut as a captain for smith and let us hope Indian Premier League gets to witness the best of Steve Smith