Seventh IPL final for Indian cricket’s all time greatest No. 7
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MS Dhoni played a blinder against Mumbai Indians to help Rising Pune Supergiant march into the final of IPL. Image Source: twitter@IPL[/caption]Internet Desk: MS Dhoni once again proved his critics wrong by playing a gem of a knock against Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1, helping Rising Pune Supergiant enter its maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) final. Dhoni, coming into bat at No.5 destroyed Mumbai bowling as he raced to 40 runs off only 26 balls which included 5 sixes at the Wankhede stadium on Tuesday.
It was Dhoni’s destructive batting in the last two overs which helped the Supergiant to add 41 runs to post a competitive total against the hosts.
Each and every run which came off Dhoni’s bat was applauded by the packed Wankhede crowd as it showed the fan-following he has across the country.
It was also the seventh IPL final for the Number 7 of Indian cricket. He reached the final in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017.
Winning Captain Steve Smith during the post match presentation ceremony said, “It's been good against them this year. Big game and big players stepped up. MS was magnificent. Rahane was solid at the start. We timed the run really well. 160 was a really good total. The last 2 overs was the momentum we needed. It proved a few too many in the end.”
Speaking about the maiden IPL final, the Australian lauded the efforts of his team-mates, specially Washington Sundar, who took three vital wickets to restrict the Mumbai batting.
“It's a nice run we're on. You need to peak at the right time in these tournaments. We executed our plans really well. We tried to take pace off the ball. There was a bit of dew, and the ball was getting a bit wet, but the the pitch stayed dry. Washington was magnificent. It was a phenomenal effort. I am proud of his efforts today. We'll have a bit of a break, relax, reset and come back fresh for the Final."
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma blamed their own batting for the loss. According to Rohit, "I think 160 was below par to be honest. I think that's been our worst performance with the bat. We need to create small partnerships. We always knew the wicket was going to play slower. We've played enough games to know the conditions. They did well to restrict us. Shot selection becomes very important. You have to respect the conditions. You have to go back to basics. We weren't able to take the game to the end. It's not the end of the world. We've still got a shot in Bangalore."
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