Steve Smith lauds MS Dhoni's efforts after the Wankhede delight

Rising Pune Supergiant skipper Steve Smith hailed and applauded MS Dhoni’s efforts with the bat after the latter’s incredible innings took the team’s total to 163, on a slow and dry pitch at the Wankhede Stadium against the Mumbai Indians.

Dhoni’s knock of a 26-ball 40 runs, which made the difference when it mattered as the hosts fell short of 20 runs at the end of the match. Steve Smith was left in awe after Dhoni’s blistering knock in the final two overs of the Supergiant’s innings.

“It was a big day and big players stepped up. I thought MS was magnificent at the end with Manoj Tiwary. Rahane batted beautifully at the start to give us a chance to have a launch pad at the end,” said Smith during the post-match presentation after winning Qualifier 1 against Mumbai.

“That was the momentum we needed going into the bowling innings. I thought the execution was fantastic. It was a slow wicket and it was difficult to time the ball but MS and Manoj did a terrific job to get a few over the fence and get us to that total,” Smith further said, heaping praises on the former RPS captain.

Going into the 19th over at the Wankhede, RPS were at 121/3 with the momentum swinging in Mumbai’s favor after a recovery from Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary. If not for the Mumbai Indians’ spinners RPS would have been rock and rolling in the game.

It was Tiwary’s willow which caused the first damage as he struck the first two deliveries sweetly from the Kiwi left-arm quick Mitchell McClenaghan for a four and a six. Since then, it was Dhoni who took charge collecting two sixes as the Supergiant’s scored 26 runs in the 19th overturning the momentum in their favor.

The last over from Jasprit Bumrah was not different as Dhoni hit the right-arm quick for two consecutive sixes to help the team score 15 runs off the last over and cross the 160-mark on a sluggish pitch.