IPL 2017: How 'apli' Mumbai Indians became three time champions

Mumbai Indians pacer Jasprit Bumrah celebrates after dismissing Rising Pune Supergiants MS Dhoni in the IPL10 final at Uppal Hyderabad yesterday PicPTI After having lost thrice in succession Mumbai Indians MI battled all odds to beat Rising Pune Supergiant RPS by one run in a nailbiting encounter to bag their third IPL crown at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here yesterdayKrunal Pandya steers one during his 47 off 38 balls PicsPTIAFPWith just 129 to defend MI bowlers restricted Pune to 128 for 6 after Steven Smith amp Co looked like coasting along nicely at one stageIt was deathover specialist Jasprit Bumrah who again rose to the occasion and dismissed dangerman MS Dhoni when Pune needed 32 runs from 23 balls with eight wickets in hand to turn things aroundPunes Adam Zampa celebrates the wicket of MIs Keiron PollardAfter that Lasith Malinga and Bumrah bowled two more tight overs to leave Pune needing 11 runs in the last six balls Mitchell Johnson went for a four off the first ball of the final over but picked the wickets of Manoj Tiwary and Steven Smith in two balls to infuse more drama into the proceedings With four to get from the last ball Daniel Christian and Washington Sundar could manage to run just two as Pune fell short by one run despite Smiths fighting 51 from 50 balls with two fours and two sixesPune skipper Steven Smith hugs MS Dhoni after Pollards wicketUneasy trackThe wicket was not easy to play strokes but with just 130 to get for a win all Pune needed to do was play percentage cricket and thats what they did So despite losing Rahul Tripathi early to a dubious umpiring call Pune skipper Smith and Ajinkya Rahane kept the team on the chase Perhaps the scenario would have been different had Krunal Pandya latched on to that easy chance from Rahane in Lasith Malingas first over when the batsman was on 14MI skipper Rohit Sharma in one of those many tense momentsBut they added 54 runs in 56 balls instead and after Rahane 44 off 38 balls with five boundaries departed caught by Kieron Pollard in the deep MS Dhoni walked in to the loudest cheers from the crowd and looked like finishing the job till Bumrah came in the way Earlier Krunal must have played one of the most important knocks in his IPL career so far His 38ball 47 with three fours and two sixes and his 50run partnership with Johnson off 35 deliveries gave MI something to bowl at Because except that one over from Lockie Ferguson when MI skipper Rohit Sharma picked four boundaries they never really got goingSuper UnadkatThere is no stopping Jaydev Unadkat in this IPL and once again he gave Pune the kind of start they wanted He picked two wickets in his firs two overs giving away just five runs to push MI on the backfoot Unadkat didnt give any width and Parthiv who had accumulated most of his runs in this IPL with the cut and pull shot played a poor pull shot this time and the ball ballooned to midon for an easy take Unadkats catch off his own bowling to dismiss Lendl Simmons may go down as one of the best catches in IPL history For a six feet plus fast bowler to dive so low and take the catch was not easyThen came that excellent directhit run out of Ambati Rayudu by Smith from midoff and MI was fighting with their backs to the wall Aussie leggie Adam Zampa then accounted for two of MIs most dangerous and important batsmen mdash Rohit and Pollard mdash in the space of five deliveries to wipe away any hope of a fightback And once MI lost Hardik Pandya trapped in front by Christian and Karn Sha rma was run out it became pretty evident that Pune wont have to chase much for a win What followed was a completely different story in the end