Rising Pune Supergiants thrashed defending champions Mumbai Indians by nine wickets in the opening match of IPL 2016 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. After winning the toss and electing to bat, the hosts got off to a horrible start.
Mumbai lost their top four all for a single-digit score and had to rely on Harbhajan Singh’s third-highest score for the team to help them to 121/8. In reply, Faf du Plessis and Ajinkya Rahane made easy work of the chase and they got home with more than five overs to spare with a six from Rahane.
For his 47-ball 66, Ajinkya Rahane was awarded the Man of the Match. He said: “I felt that it was important to time the ball. It was stopping a bit so it was important for me to take some time early on and finish the job. The pitch was two paced, not what we usually get at the Wankhede.
“In the first six overs, the ball was moving a lot. They are all world class players [talking about his teammates]. All match-winners and we try to learn things from them.”
We couldn’t have had a better start: Dhoni
MS Dhoni: "I don't think we could have had a better start. Credit to the bowlers. Yes the pitch had a bit in it for the fast bowlers but they stuck to their lines. Once they were a few wickets down, they had to change their tactics which played to our advantage.
“The start was important. I've always felt that Rahane is brilliant when the ball comes on. He's someone who plays traditional shots. Good to see him finish it off. We have not spent a lot of time together [as a team], this gives an opportunity to take some time off and interact with each other. It's a bunch of fun loving guys which makes my job easy. Support staff have put in a lot of effort.”
Rohit Sharma admits that their batting let them down and it had little to do with the pitch. He said: “Pitch looked okay. We didn't bat well, to be honest. 121 is never going to be enough against a batting lineup like Pune. Lot to learn from this game. Hopefully, we’ll go back and come with a positive frame of mind.
“Never thought the ball would do that much having played a lot of cricket here. They swung it a lot and our shot selection wasn't great. We go to Kolkata from here where we have good memories - we have won 2 titles there. It's just the start of the tournament, no need to panic.”
Here is how the cricket fraternity reacted:
There was plenty of praise for Murugan Ashwin, Aakash Chopra:
Harsha Bhogle:
Mumbai's slow start didn't surprise some:
Mark Butcher:
Will history repeat itself?
Everyone has a reason to welcome the return of the IPL, Brendan Taylor:
Harsha Bhogle:
Mark Ramprakash:
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