IPL 2017 (the qualifiers)

Qualifier 1 

Rising Pune Supergiant 162/4 (20/20 ov)
Mumbai Indians 142/9 (20/20 ov)
Rising Pune Supergiant won by 20 runs

After being asked to bat on a favourable chasing ground, Rising Pune Supergiant lost a majority of the first innings. But it was an atypically slow surface at the Wankhede Stadium. Rising Pune utilised those sluggish conditions significantly better than Mumbai Indians to clear their path to the IPL final. Rising Pune defended 162 comfortably in the end, by 20 runs, their third win over Mumbai this season. Mumbai, despite having squandered the shootout for the final in front of another packed home crowd, will have another chance in Bengaluru in the second qualifier on Friday.

At the forefront of another sublime bowling performance was Washington Sundar, tidy and accurate with his offspin, who yielded returns of 3 for 16. A fuller-than-good length and straight line meant batsmen weren't able to attack either side with any conviction. His quick speed, combined with that length, cut down Mumbai's run-scoring options. The harder task on the night, though, was with the bat. Manoj Tiwary and Ajinkya Rahane struck patient fifties, setting a platform for MS Dhoni to use his wiles and hitting prowess at the end to help Rising Pune finish with a decent score and sufficient momentum.

A strong start

In Mumbai Indians' last league game at this venue, Kings XI Punjab defended their score of 230 by just seven runs. With the possibility of dew and short boundaries, Rising Pune may not have been aiming that high after losing the toss, but they knew they needed to get close.

Planning, check. Execution, a big red cross. Rahul Tripathi fell over a flick and was bowled. Steven Smith's leading edge was snaffled up at backward point. Kings XI were 29 for 0 after two overs. Rising Pune were 9 for 2 at the same stage. The surface may have been slow and Mumbai's variations were effective, but in any case, a score of close to 170 was the best Rising Pune could hope for, which meant Mumbai were never out of the game.

Different pitch, same Dhoni finish

Rising Pune had laboured to 121 for 3 after 18 overs. The five overs prior to that yielded just 32 without a wicket as Mumbai's bowlers found the right length to MS Dhoni and Tiwary. Dhoni's strike rate in his first 10 balls in the IPL before this game was 88.52. Against Mumbai, he could only muster 14 off his first 17 balls.

But then Mitchell McClenaghan, not for the first time this season, missed his yorker. A high full toss was hit for four, the resultant free hit went for six over long-on. Dhoni anticipated McClenaghan's good or short length in the second half of that over, sat back and hit two sixes.

Jasprit Bumrah, up until the last over, didn't bowl anything in Dhoni's half. Dhoni knew that too. He hit Bumrah's good length for two more sixes to help Rising Pune plunder 41 in the last two overs. Their score of 162 was below par at this ground, but the momentum and confidence - of having defended a similar score before on this ground earlier in the season - was firmly with Rising Pune.

Falling behind from the start

Rising Pune may have felt they were short of a par score at the mid-innings break, but they had one significant aspect going for them: a two-paced Wankhede surface. Even if they didn't get early wickets, they had to keep Mumbai in check because batting was only going to get harder. Jaydev Unadkat brought out his offcutters in the first over and conceded just one run. Mumbai were already behind the game.

Parthiv Patel hit 33 runs in the Powerplay, but Mumbai lost three wickets. Lendl Simmons was run-out, backing up too far at the non-striker's end. Rohit Sharma was undone by another howler, given out lbw despite a thick inside edge. Ambati Rayudu found midwicket with a pull. Mumbai were 42 for 3 after the Powerplay and were significantly behind the asking rate.

Undone by conditions


Timing shots and picking slower deliveries was getting tougher. Why? After a bowler releases his delivery, batsmen pick the speed through the air and then adjust accordingly. The ball gripping in the surface meant it came onto the batsman slower than expected. Mumbai, having played seven league matches on an even, true Wankhede pitch, weren't used to that pace. Unadkat used his slower balls, Shardul Thakur his knuckle balls and Sundar an effective change in pace, to flummox Mumbai's batsmen into meeting the ball earlier than expected.
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Eliminator - Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kolkata Knight Riders


Sunrisers Hyderabad 128/7 (20/20 ov)
Kolkata Knight Riders 48/3 (5.2/6 ov, target 48)
Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets (with 4 balls remaining) (D/L method)


With half their Eliminator completed, Kolkata Knight Riders' players must have sat in their dugout, cursing. Cursing the weather, the scheduling, themselves. They had won the toss and bowled excellently to restrict Sunrisers Hyderabad to 128. Conditions at the Chinnaswamy Stadium were far from ideal to bat in, but only six teams had ever defended a 20-overs total of 128 or less in the IPL. All six instances had occurred in or before the 2013 season.

And then it had rained, and rained some more.

Were this match to be washed out, Knight Riders would be knocked out, since they had finished fourth on the league table and Sunrisers third. They had lost their last two matches and blown a massive chance to finish in the top two.

Were the IPL's playing conditions uniform across all matches, Knight Riders would have been knocked out. But the playing conditions for the playoffs allow for a five-over match to begin as late as 12.26am - nearly four-and-a-half hours past the scheduled match start - and for a Super Over to be played as far into the night as 1.20am.

And so, three hours and 18 minutes after the rain had begun - a wait longer than most T20 games - Knight Riders' batsmen began the task of following up their bowlers' good work. Instead of 129 in 20 overs, they would now need to chase 48 in six.

Panic set in. Knight Riders meddled with their batting order, and then lost three wickets in 1.1 overs. But a shortened second innings favours the chasing team in a most exaggerated manner. Given how they bowled, Sunrisers may have thought they could have pushed for a win in a full-duration game, but as it happened, Knight Riders strode home with four balls to spare, their captain Gautam Gambhir easing them past the early jitters with an unbeaten 32 off 19 balls.

Knight Riders go short, Sunrisers fall short

The Chinnaswamy of 2017 hasn't been the Chinnaswamy of IPLs past: the average first-innings total during the league stage was 148. The pitch for the Eliminator wasn't a belter either; it was full of cracks and dark spots and proved, unsurprisingly, to be two-paced and grippy.

Knight Riders' spinners got the ball to turn sharply, which greatly exaggerated the difficulty of facing Sunil Narine in particular, and their seamers hardly gave the batsmen anything to drive. Of the 72 balls that Knight Riders' three quicks sent down, 53 were pitched either short or short of a good length, with constant pace variations thrown in. Off those 53 short or shortish balls, Sunrisers scored 46. The short ball occasionally sat up to be hit - the pull was a productive shot for David Warner and Kane Williamson during a second-wicket stand of 50 in 46 balls - but short of good length proved almost impossible to hit: 18 balls, eight runs conceded.

The Warner-Williamson partnership moved Sunrisers to 75 for 1 in 11.5 overs, which seemed a decent-enough platform on a far-from-straightforward pitch until both batsmen fell in the space of three balls. Williamson picked out extra-cover off a slower ball from Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Warner was bowled playing across a Piyush Chawla flipper.

Vijay Shankar flickered briefly to score 22 off 17, but there was little else of note from the middle and lower order as Sunrisers only managed 53 in their last 49 balls. Coulter-Nile finished with three wickets, and Umesh Yadav - who dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and Yuvraj Singh - with two.


A completely different game

Given that the chasing team has ten wickets in both cases, getting 48 in six overs is an indisputably more straightforward ask than getting 129 in 20. Knight Riders still had to go out and get the runs. They opened with Chris Lynn, as always, and Robin Uthappa, for the first time this season. Lynn slapped Bhuvneshwar Kumar's second ball over point to erase an eighth of the target, but top-edged to the keeper next ball. Yusuf Pathan, haring out of his crease for an impossible leg-bye, was run out next ball.

When Uthappa picked out deep midwicket at the start of the next over, Knight Riders were 12 for 3. But they still only needed 36, with seven wickets in hand. It would only take a couple of boundaries to restore a sense of normalcy, and Gambhir produced them, top-edging Chris Jordan for six and putting Siddarth Kaul away for six and four off successive balls.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Qualifier 2 - MI v KKR


Kolkata Knight Riders 107 (18.5/20 ov)
Mumbai Indians 111/4 (14.3/20 ov)
Mumbai Indians won by 6 wickets (with 33 balls remaining)


Karn Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah picked up their best T20 bowling figures on the same day, combining to take 7 for 23 in seven overs to lift Mumbai Indians into their fourth IPL final with a six-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Sent in to bat on another difficult Chinnaswamy Stadium pitch, Knight Riders succumbed to some excellent bowling plans to slump to 31 for 5 in seven overs. A 56-run sixth-wicket partnership between Suryakumar Yadav and Ishank Jaggi ensured they would get past their lowest-ever total - 67, against the same opponents, back in 2008 - but their eventual total of 107 was never going to present Mumbai Indians a genuine challenge.

Mumbai lost three wickets inside their Powerplay, before Krunal Pandya and Rohit Sharma steadied the chase with a partnership of 54. Krunal remained at the crease till the end, finishing unbeaten on 45 off 30 balls as Mumbai got home with 33 balls remaining.

Bumrah, Karn demolish Knight Riders top order

Mumbai are among the best teams in the IPL at drawing up strategies against individual players. They went on to prove this through a sensational Powerplay.

Bumrah had never taken the new ball before this season, but he did so today. There seemed to be a reason for this - with his exaggerated angle into the right-hander and the bit of extra bounce his high-arm action gives him can make a hard bowler to hit down the ground. Down the ground is Chris Lynn's go-to area, and even the presence of a fielder at long-on did not deter him - he only managed to pick him out, though, making contact with the ball off the high part of his bat.

The exaggerated inward angle also did for Robin Uthappa, who has a pronounced tendency to plant his front leg across and play around his front pad. Bumrah, bowling a second over inside the Powerplay for only the third time this season, slipped one in nice and full, beat his inside edge, and pinged his front pad.

In between, Karn took out Sunil Narine. Before this match, Narine had scored the bulk of his runs through mid-off, at a blistering pace: 78 - 36.45% of his 214 this season - off 24 balls. Mumbai had made note of this even in the previous meeting between these sides at the Eden Gardens, stationing a man at long-off and getting their quicks to deny him the drive. He fell for a four-ball duck in that game, skying a back-of-a-length offcutter from Tim Southee to extra-cover.

This time, following broadly similar plans, Mitchell Johnson, Bumrah and Lasith Malinga gave him only 10 from seven balls - with six coming off one hit over square leg - before Karn came on to bowl the fifth over. The legspinner made a conscious effort to deny Narine swinging room, bowling at pads instead, and gave up only a leg-bye off two balls before he came back on strike. Frustrated, he ran down the pitch and was stumped slogging at the perfectly-pitched googly.

Two more fell in Karn's next over, the seventh of Knight Riders' innings. Gambhir picked out deep midwicket and Colin de Grandhomme, camped in his crease to a googly he didn't pick, was rapped on the back pad. Knight Riders were 31 for 5.

A brief and inadequate fightback

Suryakumar and Jaggi stemmed the fall of wickets, but runs continued to trickle. By the end of the 12th over, Knight Riders were only 61 for 5. Then Suryakumar swept Krunal to the square-leg boundary and followed up by lifting him inside-out over extra-cover. Jaggi, who had been scoring at well below a run a ball till that point, also got into the act, whipping Malinga for two leg-side fours in the next over. Knight Riders made 22 off the 13th and 14th overs, but they were taking risks in order to score that quickly. Karn came back to bowl the 15th over, and Jaggi, getting too close to the pitch of the ball, whipped him straight to long-on.

There was no real batting to follow, and Knight Riders only added 19 while losing their four remaining wickets, leaving seven balls unused. Johnson picked up two in the 17th over, Bumrah got his third in the 18th, and Malinga finished off the innings with a trademark dipping slower ball in the 19th.

Krunal aces Mumbai's chase

Mumbai only needed one partnership, and they got that courtesy Krunal and Rohit. They lost three wickets before that, though, two to Piyush Chawla. Like Karn, Chawla enjoyed the amount of grip he was getting off the surface; he foxed Lendl Simmons with a googly in the second over, and then bowled Ambati Rayudu after spinning a legbreak past his outside edge. In between, Parthiv Patel, who had hit three fours in racing to 14, top-edged Umesh Yadav to the keeper.

Right from the time he walked in, there was a sense of awareness about Krunal's batting. His first four was a paddle-sweep through the vacant short fine-leg area - Sunil Narine had moved that fielder to slip in a bid for wickets - and showed ample signs that he was picking the Trinidadian's variations out of his hand, picking up two fours in the 12th over - a dab to fine third man and a chip over the covers.

Rohit pulled Nathan Coulter-Nile straight to deep square leg in the 13th over, but by then Mumbai only needed 20, off 46 balls. They would only need 13.


Final - RPS v MI

Mumbai Indians 129/8 (20/20 ov)
Rising Pune Supergiant 128/6 (20/20 ov)

Mumbai Indians won by 1 run

This was, barring a WWE-style rebirth, Rising Pune Supergiant's last ever IPL game. They made sure it went the distance, all the way to the last ball, despite keeping Mumbai Indians down to the lowest first-innings total in an IPL final.

Somehow, Pune managed to drag a chase of 130 to the last ball.

The first ever IPL final had come down to the last ball too. Then, nine years ago, Sohail Tanvir pulled L Balaji for a single to win it for Rajasthan Royals.

Now, Mitchell Johnson bowled to Daniel Christian with Pune needing four to win. Bowling from around the wicket, Johnson went full and straight. Christian whipped it away to the left of deep square leg. J Suchith, the substitute fielder, fumbled at the boundary, allowing a second run. That wouldn't do for Pune. They needed four to win, and three to tie.

The batsmen chased a desperate third with Suchith's throw almost already in Parthiv Patel's gloves. Once Parthiv collected it safely, only one result was possible. Mumbai Indians, playing their fourth final, wrapped up their third title, winning by one run.

Krunal Pandya was Mumbai's hero with the bat, his 38-ball 47 dragging them from 79 for 7 to an eventual 129 for 8, a total that would enable their bowlers to scrap all the way. Then, helped along by Pune's ODI-style top-order approach, those scrapping bowlers managed to make the required rate creep steadily upwards - with five overs to go, Pune were only two down but needed 47 from 30.

Given Mumbai's death bowling, this was definitely not over. Jasprit Bumrah took out MS Dhoni in the 17th over. Then Lasith Malinga and Bumrah again ensured Pune would only get two boundaries across the 18th and 19th. That left Steven Smith, batting on 51, and Manoj Tiwary 11 to get from the last over.

Despite taking a boundary off his first ball, they couldn't quite do it against Johnson.

Mumbai bat, Mumbai falter

Six of the nine previous IPL finals had been won by the team batting first. Perhaps this was why Rohit Sharma went against his team's record this season of eight wins in 11 games while chasing. That too when they only had a 3-2 record while batting first.

Perhaps it had something to do with Mumbai's record against Pune: they had met three times this season, and Pune had won all three times, twice while batting first.

It seemed, right through Mumbai's innings, that they had some mental scars from all those defeats to Pune. A first-ball leave from Lendl Simmons set the tone for a cautious start on a slower-than-usual Hyderabad surface, with only seven coming off the first two overs, against Jaydev Unadkat's back-of-a-length cutters and Washington Sundar's flat, stump-to-stump offspin.

Then Unadkat dismissed both openers in the third over - a short ball cramping Parthiv Patel's attempt to pull, a slower ball clipping Simmons' leading edge and popping back for a diving return catch.

Mumbai never really recovered from there, despite Rohit Sharma smacking Lockie Ferguson for four fours in the sixth over. Adam Zampa removed Rohit and Kieron Pollard in the 12th over, and Mumbai were 65 for 5.

Krunal gives Mumbai a chance

Christian trapped Hardik Pandya lbw in the 14th, playing across the line, and Karn Sharma was run out in the next over, in most comical manner. Dropped by Christian diving to his left at slip, he ran out of his crease in a panic anyway. It seemed to sum up Mumbai's state of mind.

Krunal, though, seemed to be achieving some clarity of thought. For now, he was simply thinking of extending the innings as far as he could. It took until the 19th over for him to hit his first six, straight back over Unadkat's head. Then he swiped and slogged Christian for a four and a six in the last over, off which Pune scored 14. Still, their total was 14 short of the previous-lowest first-innings total in an IPL final.

That had come in 2009, when Deccan Chargers defended 143.

Rahane, Smith keep Mumbai in the game

No team had defended a total of 129 or below since the 2013 season. Mumbai, though, had the bowling to do it. Pune, meanwhile, adopted a keep-wickets-in-hand approach. With Rahul Tripathi lbw in the third over to Bumrah, Smith joined Ajinkya Rahane at the crease. Rahane could have fallen for 14, foxed by a Malinga slower ball, but Krunal failed to hold on to a fairly straightforward chance at short cover.


By the time he holed out to long-on in the 12th over, he had made 44 of 38, batting as he would in the longer forms of the game. Smith, playing in the same manner, was batting on 18 off 25 at that point. Then, with Karn Sharma and Krunal getting the ball to grip and Malinga varying his pace expertly, came three boundary-free overs. With 30 balls remaining, Pune needed 47.

End-overs experts squeeze out Pune

A half-controlled square-cut from Dhoni sped between backward point and short third man, and two balls later Smith reverse-swiped Krunal for six. Fourteen came off that over, and Rising Pune seemed to be back on track.

Bumrah and Malinga, though, still had three overs to bowl. Bumrah got Dhoni caught behind, denying him width for the cut, and closed out that over, the 17th, with two lbw appeals against Manoj Tiwary, the batsman unable to read his changes of pace and angle, coupled with a hint of reverse.

Smith managed to flick Malinga for four in the 18th, in between a string of unhittable yorkers, and launched Bumrah over long-off in the 19th, off the one ball in the over that was pitched short of the blockhole. When Tiwary shuffled across and whipped the first ball of the 20th over to the vacant square-leg boundary - Johnson had just lost an argument with Rohit to station a fielder there - the equation came down to 7 off 5.

Surely, that would do it. Johnson, though, hadn't had his say yet. Looking to hit him over extra-cover, Tiwary was undone by the slower ball, only managing to drag it round to long-on. Then Smith, having crossed over, timed an inside-out slice perfectly, but straight to sweeper cover.

With three balls left, Pune needed seven, with two new batsmen at the crease. Washington Sundar brought Christian on strike off the fourth ball, failing to make contact with a wide-ish yorker but managing to scamper a bye. Then Christian, slogging at another full slower one, was dropped by Hardik running forward from deep midwicket - he sprinted a second, and Pune needed four from the last ball.


The last ball of Rising Pune Supergiant's two years in the IPL. It wouldn't be the last ball they wanted.