IPL 2017: Rising Pune Supergiant vs Mumbai Indians, 5 Talking Points
With the impending comebacks of Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni after their long stay away from the spotlight, the Rising Pune Supergiant versus Mumbai Indians clash was an eagerly awaited contest for fans of both the stars. Rising Pune Supergiant were taking field under a new skipper and had plenty to prove after a disastrous season last year
The second game of the tenth season of the IPLhad plenty to look forward to. Riding on fifties from Ajinkya Rahane and captain Steve Smith, Rising Pune Supergiant won the match by 7 wickets with a ball to spare.
Here’s a look through the 5 major talking points from the game:
#1 Jos Buttler springs a surprise
When Mumbai Indians lost the toss and were put into bat first, all eyes were on Rohit Sharma, who was expected to walk in to bat for the first time on live television since a five-month long injury layoff. But, MI pulled the wool over everyone, sending hard-hitting Jos Buttler to partner Parthiv Patel at the top.
As a wired up Manoj Tiwary admitted through the stump mic, it was a move that could throw RPS’s bowling plans into disarray, and indeed it did. After getting off the mark with a lucky five runs on overthrows, Buttler’s innings panned out exactly as MI would have planned. In a quick cameo of 38 (19), he ensured the team would make full use of the Powerplay overs.
While Buttler cracked a couple of boundaries off the inexperienced Indian medium-pacer Deepak Chahar, his own country-mate was not spared either. In what was Stokes’ first ever over to Buttler in a T20 game, the latter smashed consecutive sixes – one over long on and another, scooped over the keeper.