IPL 9 Match 1 Review: Rising Pune SuperGiants demolish defending champions

The first match of the much awaited IPL 9 will kicked-off tonight at the Wankhede Stadium between the defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Rising Pune Supergiants (RSP). The MS Dhoni-led side registered a superb 9 wicket win over the defending champions in a supreme display of authoritative cricket. The win was set-up by the bowlers who bowled extremely well to restrict MI cheaply for just 121/8 at the end of the first innings.

Chasing 122 runs for their first win in the tournament, the RSP side did not break a sweat as Ajinkya Rahane and along with Faf du Plessis and Kevin Pietersen smashed the MI bowlers and reached home with 5.2 overs to spare.

Rahane and Faf du Plessis gave a quick-fire start to the innings and began to hammer the MI bowler quite effortlessly. The team raced past the 50 run mark in just 5.5 overs. The side was cruising towards a 10 wicket win. However, Harbhajan Singh, in the 10th over, brought the first breakthrough after he broke the opening stand worth 78 runs with the wicket of Faf du Plessis.

However, the match as good as over by the way Rahane was batting n the middle. Kevin Pietersen joined him in the middle and the fireworks continued. A couple of overs after du Plessis’ wicket, Rahane reached his fifty in just 32 balls. The match came to an end an over later after the Mumbai batsman reached his milestone. Rahane, the star with the bat, smashed Pandya for two sixes in space of three deliveries to finish the game in the before the end of 15th over.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Rohit Sharma decided to defend on a fresh looking batting pitch which had a tinge of grass on it. IPL debutants Rising PuneGiants (RSP) skipper MS Dhoni, however, wasn’t really upset over it as he said that he had planned to bowl first anyway citing that it would be difficult to defend on this pitch.

Ishant Sharma, who has been out of form lately, gave a bang on start to the MS Dhoni-led side. Mumbai Indians openers Rohit Sharma and Lendl Simmons could not survive the sheer speed and accuracy of the lanky pacer of the greenish wicket.

Rohit, who has been out of form, continued his poor show and was dismissed by Ishant off the first delivery of his spell. Simmons was the next to go after he was cleaned up by Ishant with a stunning in-swinger. The last time Simmons played at the Wankhede he led West Indies to a place in the finals of the World T20 in an enthralling display of batting but that was the case here today.

Mumbai Indians were rocked completely in the first few overs. The RSP bowlers did not loosen their grip as the next over by Mitchell Marsh brought two quick dismissals. Hardik Pandya, after some crisp strokes, was foxed by a slower delivery and was caught by Dhoni.

The MI didn’t make any drastic change in the playing XI except including wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler, otherwise the side looked quite familiar. However, the IPL debutant, who is great T20 talent, did not have a great start to his IPL journey and was sent back to pavilion for a two ball naught. MI were tattering at 37/4 after the end of the powerplay.

The misery did not stop at all as Kieron Pollard, Shreyas Gopal and Ambati Rayudu all fell in short successions. It was Rajat Bhatia’s turn to do some damage. The slow medium bowler also snapped up a wicket off his first ball after trapped the giant West Indian leg before. RSP debutant, leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin, was then introduced by Dhoni after crossing the halfway mark of the first innings. The leggie along with Bhatia bowled miserly which mounted huge pressure on MI. The leg-spinner soon tasted his first success in the IPL after Shreyas Gopal was caught at mid-on off his bowling.

Ravichandran Ashwin, taking advantage of the pressure built by his namesake and Bhatia, dismissed Rayudu in the 16th over. However, just when the MI team looked to have completely crumbled, it witnessed a stormy cameo from Harbhajan Singh, who smashed a match-defining 30 ball 45 run knock and entertained the crowd with some crunch hits. The aggressive off-spinner struck 7 fours and 1 six in his knock which saw the MI score balloon to 121 run after the end of 20 overs.

Brief Scores:

Mumbai Indians: 121/8 in 20 overs (Harbhajan Singh 45; Harbhajan Singh 1/24)

Rising Pune SuperGiants: 126/1 in 14.4 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 66; Mitchell Marsh 2/21)

Man of the Match: Ajinkya Rahane

Check out the 5 Talking Points of the Match- IPL 9, Match 1 MI v RPS – 5 Talking Points