Cool Mishra guides Pune to victory

Mohnish Mishra played as an opener for Deccan Chargers in earlier seasons of the IPL, but the presence of heavyweights like Graeme Smith and Jesse Ryder meant he was pushed down the order in the Pune Warriors line-up. He requested his captain Yuvraj Singh that he be used as an opener, but Yuvraj insisted that he would be a good fit at No. 6.

That proved correct in the clash between the new teams in the IPL, with Mishra's calm cameo taking Pune to victory over Kochi Tuskers Kerala. The unheralded Paul Valthaty had played a blinder to win the first game of the day for Kings XI Punjab, and it was another low-profile player, Mohnish Mishra, who sealed the game for Pune with an unruffled 37 in a close finish at the DY Patil Stadium.

For the second game in a row, Mahela Jayawardene was let down by the bowling in the death. Raiphi Gomez had been taken for three sixes by AB de Villiers in the 18th over of Kochi's opening match to win it for Bangalore; today with Pune's main batsmen dismissed and 20 needed off 13 balls, Ravindra Jadeja was hammered for a straight six by Rahul Sharma, before Mishra clubbed Muttiah Muralitharan for a four and two sixes over the leg side in five deliveries to grab a victory for Pune.

"The sweep shot is on against the offspinner, I went for it and got it. I had not faced Murali much but watched him closely and went for it," was his assessment of his assault on Murali that finished off the game.