IPL 9 Match 29 Review: Rohit Sharma guides MI to an easy win

Mumbai Indians (MI) climbed to the second spot in the points table after they defeated Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) by 8 wickets at the MCA Stadium, Pune. Skipper Rohit Sharma (85 from 60 balls) batted through the innings to pilot his team in yet another successful chase.

Mumbai Indians were set a task of chasing a relatively easier target of 160 runs on a batting track. Rohit Sharma and Parthiv Patel began steadily with a 39 run opening stand. Patel, however, departed quickly in the 4th over after a short cameo.

Rayudu then stood around with Rohit Sharma for a quickfire fifty run stand. The pair took the team swiftly closer to the target. But, Rayudu could not sustain to play a big knock as he departed in the 12th over. He fell to victim to Ravichandran Ashwin.

MI still required 67 from the last 8 overs. But, Sharma and Jos Buttler ensured that there are no further hiccups in the chase as they finished the game with 8 wickets and 9 balls to spare.

Earlier, Saurabh Tiwary and Steven Smith steadied RSP after an early setback in the form of Ajinkya Rahane. MS Dhoni continued to experiment at the top by sensing Tiwary as the opener. The Jharkhand batsman had failed to capitalise in the previous fixture but made it count this time. Steven Smith also continued to flourish in the tournament.

The pair were at their aggressive best and pummeled the bowler during their time in the middle. Both cracked 84 runs for the 2nd wicket in 7.3 overs at a blazing rate of 11.20 runs per over before being separated in the 10th over by Jasprit Bumrah. Smith, in an attempt to guide the ball to the third man region, failed to connect and nicked one to keeper Parthiv Patel.

This turned out to be the turning point of the first innings. RPS looked set to a humongous total on the board. But, the MI bowlers made a great comeback. Rohit Sharma brilliantly rotated his seamers while letting Harbhajan Singh bowl uninterrupted from one end. This move paid off as the RPS side could manage only 67 runs in the last 10 overs after being 92/2 at the halfway stage.

After a couple of overs following Smith’s departure, Peter Handscomb, who was batting for the first time in the IPL, was also dismissed cheaply.

Tiwary, at the other end, had also gone silent and dabbed singles to keep the scoreboard moving. MS Dhoni’s, arrival in the middle made fans anticipate some fireworks. But, the miserly MI bowlers did not allow either of the batsmen to free their arms.

Bumrah finally put an end to Tiwary’s struggle in the middle after he got better of the tired batsman in the 18th over. The fast bowler came back again to snap Dhoni in the final over. But Thisara Perera and Rajat Bhatia still managed to squeeze 11 runs to take RPS total to a respectable stage.

Brief Scores:

Rising Pune Supergiants: 159/5 in 20 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 57; Jasprit Bumrah 3/29)

Mumbai Indians: 161/2 in 18.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 85; Ravichandran Ashwin 1/21)

Man of the Match: Rohit Sharma

Also, Read – Twitter Reactions: Harbhajan Singh and Ambati Rayudu come at loggerheads