Kolkata: Rising Pune Supergiant went past a sorry looking Bangalore side as they thrashed the Virat Kohli led team in Pune by 61 runs. In the other game of the day, the first Super Over of this tournament was seen as Gujarat Lions produced an absolute thriller with Mumbai emerging out as the victors by five runs.
Responsible knocks by skipper Steve Smith (45) and an in-form Manoj Tiwary (44*) along with contributions from Rahul Tripathi (37) and MS Dhoni (21) resulted in the Pune side ending on 157/3.
In response, it was only skipper Kohli (55) who played a defiant and classy knock when all the other batsmen around him showed little or no application, failing even to cross double figures in their pursuit of the 158 run target set by the Pune batsmen. Bangalore’s batting collapsed again as they could only muster 96 runs in their 20 overs losing nine wickets in the process.
Travis Head replaced West Indian Chris Gayle but that didn’t help the Royal Challengers in any way. For Pune, pacer Lockie Ferguson produced a clinical show with the ball as he gave away just seven runs from his four overs, taking two wickets.
This loss meant that Bangalore’s hopes of qualifying for the playoffs. Rising Pune Supergiant however are looking good for a playoff berth as they are now at the fourth position in the table.
In the second match of the day, Mumbai Indians overcame a spirited Gujarat Lions by five runs in a contest that went on to a Super Over.
Jasprit Bumrah produced a fantastic display of fast bowling as he did not concede even a single boundary to big hitting batsmen like Aaron Finch and Brendon McCullum in the Super Over after Mumbai Indians put on 11 runs.
Gujarat skipper Suresh Raina won the toss and chose to bat first and put on 153 runs on the board after opener Ishan Kishan (48) played a good innings. The middle order failed to contribute significantly but Ravindra Jadeja (28) , James Faulkner (21) and Andrew Tye (25) ensured that a decent total was put.
Mumbai Indians, in reply were cruising towards a victory riding on a good fifty by Parthiv Patel (70). The chase was pretty much on track but another middle order collapse made things really tough for the visitors.
But some late hitting by Krunal Pandya (29) raised hopes of a Mumbai victory before some quality death bowling by Basil Thampi (3/29) and an inspired fielding effort by Ravindra Jadeja and Irfan Pathan took the match into the one-over eliminator.
Mumbai, courtesy this win are on the second position in the table, and are level with the Kolkata Knight Riders on points, but the latter are still on the top spot due to a superior net run rate. Gujarat Lions are on the fifth position with just six points to their name.
Brief scores:
Rising Pune Supergiant 157/3 (Steve Smith 45, Manoj Tiwary 44*; Stuart Binny 1/17) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 96/9 (Virat Kohli 55, Sreenath Aravind 8; Lockie Ferguson 2/7) by 61 runs.
Gujarat Lions 153/9 (Ishan Kishan 48, Ravindra Jadeja 28; Krunal Pandya 3/14) lost to Mumbai Indians 153 all out (Parthiv Patel 70, Krunal Pandya 29; Basil Thampi 3/29) by 5 runs via the Super Over.