Share

IPL Playoffs: Mumbai Indians outplay KKR by six wickets, reach final

Mumbai Indians will have to beat their nemesis Rising Pune Supergiants to achieve the milestone.

Advertisement

“It was a great game of cricket and I hope the crowd enjoyed it”, Rohit said. MI just needs a single win to settle the IPL trophy 2017.

It’s easy to say that these are the two best teams who have made it to the final of the competition this year. When Englishman Jos Buttler left for national duty, Mumbai got the hard-hitting West Indian Lendl Simmons as the opening partner with stumper Parthiv Patel.

With a resounding victory by 6 wickets in a thrilling match against Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians entered in their 3rd IPL final.

With MS Dhoni in the RPS and one of the all-time-favorite team “Mumbai Indians” in the grand finale added some curious flavors to the do or die match.

Two-time champions Mumbai now meet the Rising Pune Supergiants, coached by former Black Caps skipper Stephen Fleming, in the final on Sunday (Monday NZT).

It may be recalled here that Azharuddin had earlier slammed Rising Pune Supergiants for sacking MS Dhoni.

At 56 for 5, Mumbai Indians didn’t have any chance of recovery. However, they have been defeated by RPS three times in this season already and they will certainly play in players’ minds.

This is evidenced in the batting and bowling statistics for the season as well. The past record confirms this fact where there are some players like Shane Warner, Adam Gilchrist and David Warner have all won the IPL match. Both of them have been part of six T20 final wins.

In many ways, Pune have been the surprise package of the competition.

Here is a look at how RPS vs MI could go.

Pune, who ended seventh in the eight-team Twenty20 tournament previous year, had a mixed start this season only to pick up momentum towards the business end. He comes in for the second over. He also predicted that KKR and Sunrisers Hyderabad will be eliminated from the tournament and the final would be played between Mumbai and Pune.Uday Shetty, you beauty!

Advertisement

However, the road to the final from the play-offs were not the same for the two teams. Though, Pune Supergiants won the playoff against Mumbai Indians in the last match without the presence of Imran Tahir and Ben Stokes. “What we have to appreciate is that he has been around for so long and has always been sharing his views which have been really helpful to the team”, said Smith. The right-handed batsman has been a revelation, taking on some of the most reputed bowlers in contemporary cricket and despatching them with disdain to give his team solid starts.

High-voltage clash on cards