IPL 10: Pune survive spectacular collapse to defend 161 against Bangalore

Rising Pune Supergiant finally got off the bottom of the table by recording a spectacular come-from-behind win against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday. A remarkable collapse of five wickets in the space of nine balls and three runs meant Pune ended up with only 161/8 on the board on what looked like a flat pitch, but Steve Smith’s men still managed to coast to a 27-run win, after restricting Bangalore to just 134/9. RCB thereby replaced RPS at the bottom, while Pune jumped to sixth.

The prelude to the match was Virat Kohli vs Steve Smith, who were facing each other again for the first time since the fractious India-Australia Test series. While the India captain had won that contest, Smith got one over his counterpart with a morale-boosting win.

Dhoni finally gets promoted

After being asked to bat first, Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi got Pune off to a really good start, scoring 55 runs in the six Powerplay overs without losing their wicket. Both, however, fell soon after the Powerplay, which brought MS Dhoni out at No 4 to join captain Steve Smith.

It was the first time this season that Dhoni had batted at the position. In the previous games, he had come in at No 5 twice and at No 6 as many times, which was an absolute waste of his abilities.

Anyone who has watched Dhoni play in Twenty20 cricket, whether it is in the IPL or for India, would know that his best position in the format is at four. It allows him enough time to settle in, and then go for the shots towards the death. If he comes in at No 6 in the last quarter of the innings, he does not get enough time to settle in and hardly gets any balls to play.

Dhoni averages more than 50 batting at No 4 in T20 Internationals for India, and RPS really should have known that earlier. On Sunday, finally promoted to No 4, he came in to bat in the ninth over of the innings, which gave him enough time.

Dhoni built a partnership with Smith, hit a six on to the stadium’s roof, got the partisan Bengaluru crowd to cheer for him, and looked to be taking Pune towards the par score of 180, before he mistimed a slog and chopped back into his stumps at the end of the 16th over.

Pune’s collapse, Tiwary’s late burst

Dhoni was gone for a 25-ball 28 and, unfortunately for Pune, the wicket would trigger a massive collapse. Pune fell from 127/2 to 130/7 in the space of nine balls. This included two wickets in as many balls for New Zealand’s Adam Milne, who was playing his debut match in the IPL. He almost got a hat-trick, but Jaydev Unadkat did well to block out a yorker.

It took a late burst from Manoj Tiwary (27 off 11 balls) to take Pune to a respectable, but nowhere near competitive, 161/8.

Or so we thought.

RCB’s choke

As Bangalore came out to bat, the pitch, on which AB de Villiers had said 200 would be a par score, had put on a mask. Suddenly, it was looking far more conducive to the bowlers, and as the hosts batted on, Pune’s 161 kept looking like quite a good score with every passing over.

RCB went through a spell where they did not score a boundary for 38 balls. In T20s, that’s a cardinal sin. As Pune slowly built the pressure, Bangalore kept losing wickets at regular intervals of 20 runs. Pune were on top for the first time in the match when a lightning-quick stumping by MS Dhoni sent AB de Villiers back to the pavilion in the 11th over. Ben Stokes hit the final nail in the coffin when he cleaned up Shane Watson in the 16th over to make it 101/5.

RCB were eventually restricted to just 134/9 in their 20 overs, with Shardul Thakur and Stokes both ending up with three wickets. Before this match, Pune looked like the weakest team in the tournament, but this win should give them confidence to pick themselves up and get a move up the table.