Pune a win away from triumph

Mumbai : MS Dhoni and Washington Sundar made match-winning contributions as Rising Pune Supergiant beat Mumbai Indians by 20 runs to reach their maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) final here today.
Dhoni was at his destructive best, smashing 40 off 26 balls in the death overs to propel Pune to 162/4. And then, young off-spinner Sundar took three important wickets to help his side restrict Mumbai to 142/9.
It was Pune’s third win over Mumbai in as many games this season, providing them with an opportunity to win the coveted trophy in only their second season. Mumbai, who had topped the group stages, remain in the competition and will meet the winner of tomorrow’s eliminator between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders in Qualifier 2 on Friday. With the pitch playing unusually slow, anything over 150 was going to be tricky target despite Mumbai’s batting strength.  Sundar sent back skipper Rohit Sharma, Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard in a space of 12 balls to leave Mumbai gasping at 51/4 in eight overs. Parthiv Patel (52 off 40), though, was solid at the other end. He eventually ran out of partners with Pandya brothers, too, back in the pavilion by the 15th over and the scorecard reading 101/6. Patel, too, fell soon after, leaving the tail-enders to get 60 runs off 30 balls.Earlier, Mumbai Indians put up a decent bowling effort until Dhoni hit a barrage of sixes to help Pune post a fighting total. Ajinkya Rahane (56 off 43) and Manoj Tiwary (58 off 48) revived Pune’s innings following a bad start before Dhoni finished the innings on a high note, hammering five sixes in his knock. Mumbai leaked 41 runs in the last two overs bowled by Mitchel McClenaghan and Jasprit Bumrah, who went for 26 and 15 runs, respectively.