Stokes produces million-dollar performance

It seemed like every time Ben Stokes took the ball tonight, he was going to make something happen. He first picked it up in the fifth over and outfoxed his compatriot, Jos Buttler, to dismiss him for the first time in his career. He plugged away at Nitish Rana's corridor for the next three balls, even inducing an edge that might have removed Mumbai's most successful batsman of the season if Manoj Tiwary had managed to get his fingers under a half-chance at slip. That over ended as a maiden and Rana hadn't scored off his first four balls. He would make only three off his next four before heaving across the line and offering a catch to Jaydev Unadkat.

The next time he came on to bowl, in the 13th over, Rohit Sharma had played himself in and put on 26 with the promoted Karn Sharma. Stokes removed Karn off the first ball and put an end to the prospect of his pinch-hitting providing any momentum to Mumbai's innings. It meant Kieron Pollard's arrival and subsequent settling down. Stokes bowled 11 balls during that period and gave away only 15.

He returned to do the strangling job one last time in the 19th over with Mumbai needing 24 to win. Jaydev Unadkat had gone for 11 in the 18th over, Rohit had completed a fifty, and at the other end was Hardik Pandya, Mumbai's new-found finisher who was yet to be dismissed in a chase this season. Stokes kept them to seven runs, and kept Rising Pune's prospects of a win alive.

Then came, as Rohit would say later in the presentation, the turning point. Hardik charged at Unadkat's first ball of the final over and slapped him on the up. It was hit hard and flat. Stokes sprinted in from the deep extra-cover boundary and dived forward to complete a stunning catch.

When Stokes ran in from the boundary for that catch in the last over, the prospect of a length ball going for less than a boundary seemed like a good result. So when he decided to keep the sprint going and completed the catch, he had done more than just dismiss Hardik or provide Unadkat more room; in seven balls, he had shifted the momentum away from Mumbai.

"He [Jaydev] got a wicket in the first ball [of the final over], which is always critical. Needing 17, you can't lose a wicket off the first ball."
Rohit Sharma

"Ben Stokes is earning his riches today. With the ball and in the field"
Harsha Bhogle, on Twitter