The Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) have registered their second win of the season beating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 27 runs in Match 17 of the Indian Premier League 2017, at M Chinnasway Stadium, yesterday.
After achieving 161 for eight, RPS put in a superlative bowling and fielding effort to successfully defend the lowest total against RCB at home. RCB could only manage 134 for nine with de Villiers top-scoring with 29 for the home team. For RPS, Ben Stokes claimed 3/18 in his four, while Shardul Thakur claimed 3/35 and Jaydev Unadkat bowled a miserly spell of 4-0-25-2.
Ajinkya Rahane (30) and Rahul Tripathi (31) stated off well taking Adam Milne for 17 runs in the third over of the match en route to a solid 63-run stand for the opening wicket by the eighth over.
Rahane looked in sublime touch taking five boundaries during his 25-ball stay before being castled by Samuel Badree for 30. Tripathi managed to hit well scoring 31 off 23 balls, but a brilliant one-handed diving catch by RCB skipper Virat Kohli meant RPS were two down for 68. Still, Steve Smith and MS Dhoni went for their shots and took RPS to 127 by the 16th over.
The RPS, with four overs left and eight wickets in hand, would have hoped Dhoni and Smith to go beserk. But Dhoni played a delivery straight on to his stumps off Shane Watson followed by Sreenath Arvind knocking over Smith's wicket. However, from 127 for 2, RPS succumbed to 130 for 7. Ben Stokes, Dan Christian and Shardul Thakur faltered to deceive. And if it was not for Manoj Tiwary's 27 off 11 balls, 19 off which came in one Watson over, RPS would have ended with a very modest total. Yet, RPS could only manage 161 for 8.
Virat Kohli, however, had no issues with the pitch as he tonked Jaydev Unadkat for a six off the third ball of the innings. A four followed in Thakur's over and Kohli was dropped by Tiwary at first slip. Thakur though managed to remove the other opener Mandeep Singh in the same over. AB de Villiers looked in ominous touch as he started with a four but he too struggled to time the ball, majorly due to the slowness of the track. Kohli entertained with couple of lusty blows, but he was undone by a short one from Stokes and departed for 28 in the sixth over. RCB looked shaky at 41 for 2.
In came, Imran Tahir and the leg-spinner further choked RCB with de Villiers succumbing to the pressure. He charged down the track, missed the line and even before the South African could think of coming back, Dhoni had removed the bails. At 70 for 3 in 10 overs, RCB now looked in trouble.
Christain, Thakur and Jaydev Unadkat dropped their pace and bowled a disciplined line not allowing RCB batsmen to get on top. Tahir was brilliant as ever finishing his quota of four overs with one wicket and giving away just 27 runs. Such was the bowling of RPS bowlers that after de Villiers had hit a six in the ninth over before getting out, and it took another five overs for RCB batsmen to find the boundary rope. That came off the bat of Stuart Binny after Kedar Jadhav was dismissed by Unadkat. Stokes seemed to have added the finishing touch, castling Watson, after being hit for two fours.
Stuart Binny kept RCB's hopes alive with a six and four off Dan Chrisitain, while Pawan Negi crashed one from Thakur for a six. Negi then went for a slog, top-edging the ball high but Rahul Tripathi took a fantastic catch under pressure the remove the left-hander. A ball later, Binny heaved high and long towards long-on, but Stokes, right at the ropes took the catch and managed to throw the ball inside while he fell over. Thakur then cleaned up Binny in the same over. Stokes finished off the game bowling the final over giving away just three runs.
Supergiant Vs Royal Challengers
161/8 (20) 134/9 (20)
Score Card:
Gujarat Lions Beat Rising Pune Supergiant By Seven Wickets
By Supraja
