Ajinkya Rahane steers Pune to an easy win
Ajinkya Rahane, with an unbeaten 66 from 42 balls, helped get Pune's campaign off to a winning start as they thumped hosts Mumbai by nine wickets in their first match of the Indian Twenty20 league in Mumbai on Saturday.
Mumbai's captain, Rohit Sharma, won the toss and opted to bat first, but Pune impressed, as their bowlers struck regularly. Ishant Sharma and Mitchell Marsh were the pick of Pune's bowlers and claimed two wickets each.
A disciplined display from the bowlers restricted Mumbai to just 121 in their 20 overs. Pune, with three T20 international captains in their ranks in MS Dhoni, Steven Smith and Faf du Plessis had the batting acumen to win their first match of the 2016 campaign.
A 78-run opening stand between Rahane and du Plessis set the platform for Pune to comfortably complete the win. Du Plessis hit two sixes and a four in his 33-ball 34, before he fell in the 10th over. Rahane looked composed throughout his innings, as the pitch had lost most of its early bite that had troubled Mumbai's batsmen.
Rahane, who until last season played for Rajasthan, smashed seven fours and three sixes in his quick-fire innings. He and Kevin Pietersen added 48 runs for the second wicket to comfortably guide their side home with 32 balls to spare.
"I felt it was important to time the ball. When we were bowling, the ball was stopping and seaming a bit. It was important to take my time and finish the game. Track was two-paced, different to Wankhede wicket. It was holding and for the first six overs, it was doing a lot. Its been very good, couple of practice sessions. All world class players. All are match-winners, KP, Smith, Dhoni, and we are trying to learn many things from them," Rahane, the Top performer of the match, said.
Dhoni credited his bowlers for the win. "I don't think we could have had a better start than this, A lot of credit to the bowlers. Specially Rajat. He bowled in that uncomfortable area, once they lost a lot of early wickets," Dhoni said, "The opposition also went hard, and on a wicket where the fast bowlers had assistance, there were chances. There was a lot of pressure on their lower order, the bowlers did a fantastic job."