Captain Smith takes Supergiant to victory in a nail biter against Mumbai

Photo: BCCI

New Delhi: It needed two Steve Smith sixes to seal a nail biter. Rising Pune Supergiant beat Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets to get a winning start in the tenth edition of IPL at the Mahrashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.

Steve Smith played a captain’s innings, 84 runs off 57 balls at an impressive strike rate of 155.55 to guide his side to victory. 

Chasing a target of 185, Pune was cruising when Rahane (60) and Smith were going strong. Raheane was dismissed by Southee. The game took a decisive turn in the sixteenth over when Stokes (21) fell to Pandya. 

Supergaint needed 42 off 28 balls. In came world cricket’s one of the most trusted finishers – MS Dhoni. However, he was not at his best, whch forced the match to the last over. Supergiant needed 10 off 3. Just then Smith came to the rescue as he hit Pollard for back to back sixes to seal the match. 

Earlier, put into bat, Mumbai scored 184 for 8 on the back of Hardik Pandya's late heroics. Hardik Hardik Pandya (35 off 15 balls) stunned the home crowd as he scored four sixes and a boundary to take 30 runs from the final over bowled by Ashok Dinda.

South African Tahir (3/28), who was unsold in the IPL auction and drafted in the Pune team as a late replacement, triggered a top-order collapse after Mumbai's rollicking start after they were put into bat.

But Pandya's late flourish negated Tahir's fine effort as Mumbai rattled up 64 runs in the last five overs