The Rising Pune Supergiant was fortunate to win its Indian Premier League opener against Mumbai Indians in a last-over finish at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, captain Steve Smith said.
The Australian hit two consecutive sixes under pressure against Kieron Pollard in the final over of the innings to overhaul RPS’ target of 185, after the hosts needed 13 to win off the last six balls. “It’s a nice place to bat at Pune,” Smith said, as reported by PTI. “[We were] fortunate to get over the line in the end.”
Smith remained unbeaten on 84, which came of just 54 balls, and shared vital half-century stands with Ajinkya Rahane (60) and Ben Stokes (21). Doing so, he continued his rich vein of form from the India-Australia Test series, in which he scored 499 runs in four matches.
“Form is form anywhere, I guess, so you got to make the most of it when you’re hitting the ball well,” said Smith, who had hit a magnificent hundred in the Pune against India, leading Australia to their only Test win of the series.
The 27-year-old said he always knew that Mumbai would have to get an over from a slower bowler towards the end of the innings, which turned out to be Pollard, and RPS decided to take him on. “It was nice to hit a couple of sixes to win the game,” Smith said. “It was one of those wickets where it was hard to find timing as soon as you come in.”
The ‘magnificent’ Tahir
Smith also hailed the performance of leg-spinner Imran Tahir, who took 3/28 after coming on to bowl in the fifth over of the innings. The South African, who is the top-ranked bowler in the world in Twenty20 Internationals, did not have an IPL team a fortnight ago. He was picked by Pune at the last minute after an injury to Mitchell Marsh ruled the Australian out of the season.
“Tahir was magnificent,” Smith said. “[I] probably called him on a little bit earlier than I would have liked to. Taking wickets through the middle overs was helpful and probably helped us in the end as well. Probably 180 was a par score on that wicket, pretty nice wicket with even bounce and slightly on the slower side.”
RPS play their second match of IPL 10 on Saturday, when they travel to Mohali to face Glenn Maxwell’s Kings XI Punjab.
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