Rising Pune Supergiant had a shaky start to their innings after they lost in-form Rahul Tripathi and skipper Steve Smith within the first two overs. Ajinkya Rahane along with Manoj Tiwary anchored Pune’s innings as the duo added 80 runs for the third-wicket partnership. Their partnership took the visitors to 89/3 before Mumbai spinner Karn Sharma got the opener leg-before.
However, it was MS Dhoni’s destructive batting in the last two overs which helped the Supergiant to add 41 runs to their total and put up a target of 163 for the two-times IPL champions who are vying for their fourth IPL final.
Each and every run which came off Dhoni’s bat was applauded by the crowd as it showed the fan-following he has across the country. Initially, Dhoni scored 14 runs from 18 balls he faced. However, in last eight balls he smashed seamer Mitchell McClenaghan and Jasprit Bumrah for two maximums each.
On the other end, Tiwary, who was coming in after a brilliant knock against Delhi Daredevils, hit four fours and two sixes as he brought up his second half-century of the season.
