IPL 2017 Highlights RPS vs KXIP in Pune, cricket score and results: Hosts win by 9 wickets; finish second on table

Jaydev Unadkat has been awarded the Man of the Match award. He took two wickets, effected a run out and took a catch.

So RPS finally keep their date with the Playoffs. That was as one sided as it gets. Even my grandmother is tutting in disapproval, so insipid was the contest. But RPS fans are happy

RPS finish second on the table, a terrific performance considering their poor start. Few would have believed it at the beginning of their campaign. They get two bites at the cherry, first against a team they are two out of two against, but sans Stokes and Tahir.

Today’s win for RPS by 58 balls remaining 

– Largest for RPS by balls remaining (Prev. 32 v MI at Mumbai in 2016)

– Largest v KXIP by balls remaining by any team (Prev. 41 by PWI at Mumbai in 2011)

Points table position-wise winners in IPL:

Table-toppers – 2008 (RR)
2nd –  2011 (CSK) , 2012 (KKR), 2013 (MI), 2014 (KKR), 2015 (MI)
3rd – 2010 (CSK), 2016 (SRH)
4th – 2009 (DC)

Last five out of six times, teams who have finished second in the points table won an IPL title.

Ajinkya Rahane finishes the match with a six. Pune finish second in the table and will travel to Mumbai to play the qualifier one against Mumbai Indians.

After 11 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 67/1 ( Ajinkya Rahane 25 , Steven Smith (C) 13)

Tewatia bowls a slider around leg, Smith tickles it fine for a couple. Only 2 runs off the last five balls.

After 10 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 62/1 ( Ajinkya Rahane 24 , Steven Smith (C) 9)

Captain Maxwell introduces himself into the attack. Rahane punches it to long on for a run. Smith clips the third ball through mid-wicket and calls Rahane for a single. Another run through mid on ins taken. Smith flat-bats his Australian team mate to the on side to score the fourth run of the over.

After 9 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 58/1 ( Ajinkya Rahane 22 , Steven Smith (C) 7)

DROPPED! Nothing is Punjab’s way today. Rahane tries to play a slog sweep over mid-wicket, but the ball was heading straight to Guptil in the deep who fluffs it. After that shot, Pune once again decide to just rotate the strike. Three runs off the over. Umpire signals the time out. Pune need 16 off 66 balls with nine wickets in hand, think they can discuss their dinner plans.

After 9 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 58/1 ( Ajinkya Rahane 22 , Steven Smith (C) 7)

DROPPED! Nothing is Punjab’s way today. Rahane tries to play a slog sweep over mid-wicket, but the ball was heading straight to Guptil in the deep who fluffs it. After that shot, Pune once again decide to just rotate the strike. Three runs off the over. Umpire signals the time out. Pune need 16 off 66 balls with nine wickets in hand, think they can discuss their dinner plans.

After 8 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 55/1 ( Ajinkya Rahane 20 , Steven Smith (C) 6)

Six singles off the over. Smith and Rahane don’t want to take any risk.

After 7 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 49/1 ( Ajinkya Rahane 17 , Steven Smith (C) 3)

A decent over from Swapnil Singh. Four singles and a couple.

After 6 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 43/1 ( Ajinkya Rahane 13 , Steven Smith (C) 1)

Rahane welcomes Axar with a boundary to covers. Takes a single off the second ball. Tripathi falls, a bit too late though. Smith arrives at the crease and takes a run straightaway. Seven runs off the over.

The usual start for RPS. Tripathi hustles and bustles. Rahane content to knock it around.

OUT! Tripathi’s cameo comes to an end. He kneels across and eyes to go over fine leg but misses the ball completely. The ball disturbs the stumps and he is upset with himself. Axar gets the breakthrough.

The whole Punjab side looks extremely flat and defeated in the field, and that’s because they are. Thrown away a golden opportunity today. Don’t really want to criticise the bowlers because there is nothing they can do, this game is gone and now it’s just about going through the motions until Pune inevitably pass the required score.

After 5 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 36/0 ( Ajinkya Rahane 7 , Rahul Tripathi 28)

Maxwell introduces spin for the first time but the Tripathi onslaught continues. Tewatia tosses the ball and its enough for Tripathi to kneel and slog it over mid-wicket for a maximum. Barring the six, five dot balls came in the over.

After 4 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 30/0 ( Ajinkya Rahane 7 , Rahul Tripathi 22)

Tripathi continues his natural game. Ishant bowls it slightly wide and Tripathi cuts it through backward point for a boundary. Poor delivery Ishant! Strays it around leg, Rahul just tickles it fine for another boundary. A back of a length delivery on the fifth ball, Rahul gets over the ball and taps it to third man for a comfortable brace. A single to third man again to finish the over.

After 3 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 18/0 ( Ajinkya Rahane 6 , Rahul Tripathi 11)

Sandeep starts his second over with a wide. Two singles come off the first two balls. Oh good shot! Again uses his feet and pulls it over deep square leg for a boundary. Nine runs off the over.

After 2 overs,Rising Pune Supergiant 9/0 ( Ajinkya Rahane 4 , Rahul Tripathi 5

Rahane opens the face of the bat and runs it down to third man for a single. Tripathi is not changing his style one bit, charges down the track and slams it through covers to score the first boundary of the innings. Mohit bowls a slower ball on the last ball, it takes ages to reach Rahul who pulls it to long leg to retain strike.

After 1 over, Rising Pune Supergiant 3/0 ( Ajinkya Rahane 3 , Rahul Tripathi 0)

The first ball is right on the money, and a hint of swing on the second ball. Rahane plays it away towards cover and gets Pune underway with a couple. Such a damp squib this performance has been by Punjab, after all the good work in the past few matches. They had bowled out Delhi under 70 runs, can they do it against Pune too? Well, they have to, if they are to qualify for the play-offs. Rahane opens the face of the bat and gets the ball to third man for a single on the last ball for a single. Three runs from the first over.

Lowest totals defended in T20 cricket:

78 – Himachal Pradesh v Services, Rohtak, 2013
81 – Maharashtra v Saurashtra, Baroda, 2010 
89 – Saurashtra v Gujarat, Baroda, 2010

Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi open the batting for Pune and Sandeep Sharma starts with the ball for Punjab.

Pune need 74 runs to qualify for the Qualifier in Mumbai. Well, that didn’t turn as it was supposed to. A total failure for Punjab and they would be disappointed with their effort. Jaydev Unadkat took the first wicket and everyone else chipped in. He continued his brilliant performance in the field too, taking one catch and effecting a run out. It will be interesting to see how the Pune batsmen approach the chase. Stay with us to find out.

Well this match and Kings XI’s season is all but over after that shocking effort with bat in hand. It started badly losing Guptill to a loose drive first ball and after that it was a procession. Not one Punjab batsman was able to take on the responsibility and lead their side out of the mire and towards a competitive total. Each and every batsmen three their wicket away. If you’re a Punjab fan, pray. That’s your only hope.

Highest difference between two consecutive innings in IPL:

164 – RCB (213, 49), 2017
157 – KXIP (230, 73), 2017*
148 – DD (214, 66), 2017

Lowest totals for Kings XI Punjab in IPL:

73 v Rising Pune Supergiant, Pune, 2017*
88 v Royal Challengers Bangalore, Bangalore, 2015
92/8 v Chennai Super Kings, Durban, 2009

OUT! Mohit Sharma decides to take on the leggie, but it doesn’t according to his plan. Comes down the track, looks to go over long off but the holes out to Daniel Christian at wide long off.

Only the last rites remain for the KXIP batters. This effort, and their campaign, is as good as dead and buried.

OUT! Ishant goes for a slog sweep but miscues the ball high up in the air. Smith hares in from covers, gets under the ball and takes the catch. I have nothing to say, this match was supposed to be exciting. With that, strategic time out has been taken, not sure why! Punjab 71/9

After 15 overs,Kings XI Punjab 71/8 ( Mohit Sharma 4 , Ishant Sharma 1)

Stokes is back into the attack. Mohit fails to get bat to ball on the first three balls. Flicks the fourth ball through square leg for a run. Ishant drives but the ball takes the edge and goes to third man. He retains strike.

After 14 overs,Kings XI Punjab 69/8 ( Mohit Sharma 3 , Ishant Sharma 0)

Jaydev comes back into the attack. Swapnil tries to play one to third man, fails, A similar shot on the next ball, same result. Swapnil’s stay at the centre comes to an end. Ishant Sharma plays out the last two deliveries. A wicket maiden in the 14th over.

OUT! Unadkat comes back and removes Swapnil Singh. When Ishant Sharma comes out in the middle in the 14th over, its a very bad sign. Swapnil tries to drive this but gets a thick edge which goes to Christian who fails to catch it and the ball comes out of his hand. However, Dhoni is in a perfect position and pouches it. Unadkat’s dream match continues.

After 13 overs,Kings XI Punjab 69/7 ( Swapnil Singh 10 , Mohit Sharma 3)

Another tidy over from Zampa. Swapnil and Mohit run between the wickets for five times.

Even in the 12th over, the pitch is offering some lateral movement, especially to cutters. Ideally, it might be better off for RPS to simply contain the KXIP for the full 20 overs, rather than bowling them out early; it would get any remaining moisture out of the pitch. Realistically, these things can’t be planned out.

Even in the 12th over, the pitch is offering some lateral movement, especially to cutters. Ideally, it might be better off for RPS to simply contain the KXIP for the full 20 overs, rather than bowling them out early; it would get any remaining moisture out of the pitch. Realistically, these things can’t be planned out.

After 12 overs,Kings XI Punjab 64/7 ( Swapnil Singh 7 , Mohit Sharma 1)

Swapnil and Mohit rotate strike twice after the wicket. Five runs off the 12th over.

With Axar gone to another soft dismissal Kings XI have lost their last hope of salvaging anything from this innings. You’d be shocked if they even got to 100 from here, and even that won’t be defendable. Barring a miracle of the highest order Kings XI’s tournament is over and they have no one​ to blame but themselves after an atrocious approach to batting in this match.

OUT! Okay, Pune can actually win by a very huge margin here. This will boost their morale too. Coming to the ball, Axar tries to drive a length ball without any feet movement and edges it to Dhoni who catches it easily, his second catch of the match.

MS Dhoni becomes the second wicket-keeper to affect 100 dismissals in IPL after Dinesh Karthik.

After 11 overs,Kings XI Punjab 59/6 ( Axar Patel 20 , Swapnil Singh 5)

Zampa responds brilliantly after giving eleven runs off his first over. His second over: 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1.

After 10 overs,Kings XI Punjab 55/6 ( Axar Patel 18 , Swapnil Singh 3)

Five runs come off Christian’s first over, a successful one as he dismissed Saha for 13.

OUT! A nothing from Saha ends his innings. He tries to run down Christian to third man for a single but only manages to get a faint edge, Dhoni goes to his right to grab it. Pune strike straightaway after time out.

RPS have always  used Washington Sundar in the power play, but didn’t today, That’s because there were no left handers left to bowl to, with Morgan and Marsh not lasting long. In his place, the pace bowlers were more effective today.

After 9 overs,Kings XI Punjab 50/5 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 13 , Axar Patel 16)

Time for some spin! Zampa comes into the attack. Starts with a full toss which gives Axar two runs. SIX! Bowls one short and Axar goes back to slam it over mid-wicket for a biggie. Good strike. Three singles follow and the over ends with a dot. Most expensive over of the innings, 11 off it. And umpire signals the strategic time out. Punjab are in trouble, but these two have batted sensibly. They should try to prolong their innings as long as possible because they really don’t have any batting left after them.

After 8 overs,Kings XI Punjab 39/5 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 12 , Axar Patel 6)

Some luck for Punjab.. finally. Axar looks to drive one but edges it between Dhoni and Christian, who was positioned at wide slip, for a boundary. Only a single off the rest of the five balls.

After 7 overs,Kings XI Punjab 34/5 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 12 , Axar Patel 1)

Stokes concedes 2 runs of his second over. Only 1 run came off the bat and one was a wide.

After 6 overs,Kings XI Punjab 32/5 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 12 , Rahul Axar 0)

A top over from Thakur, only 2 wickets and three runs from it.

Best bowling performances in powerplay overs in IPL-10:

23/5 – MI v DD, Mumbai 
32/5 – RPS v KXIP, PUNE* 
35/5 – MI v DD, Delhi

Half the side down in the power play. One big challenge for RPS now is to not get ahead of themselves. They can’t afford to start thinking about the Wankhede just yet.

In the end there was no point in Maxwell​ hiding himself, he’s lasted only three balls. Kings XI are capitulating here. Maybe they can’t handle the pressure of the big game, no doubt Pune have bowled well but Punjab have looked absolutely clueless against the attack. Arguably not possible to have a worse powerplay than what Kings XI have just had. Best hope now is Saha and Axar bat the overs and get them to 120 maybe 130 if they’re lucky.

OUT! The captain departs and this virtual quarterfinal is turning out to be pretty one-sided! A full ball on the sticks, Maxwell flicks it bravely, or rather foolishly, and holes out to Rahane at deep square leg. Punjab 32/5

OUT! The move to send Tewatia up the order has not worked. he falls to not a not so good delivery! A good a length delivery around leg, Tewatia moves a bit and looks to go over short fine leg. But Unadkat once again dives to his left to take a splendid catch. Unadkat is having the game of his life here.

Best possible start for RPS. Four of KXIP top five are overseas batters and three of those have been sent back. 

The rains that have hit the city in the last two evenings seem to have slowed down the pitch just a bit, though Morgan cannot pass any blame onto the pitch for his dismissal.

Three of their big name overseas players in the shed already, this is a disastrous start for Kings XI. Morgan’s horror tournament continues with a run out and now Punjab have a lot of ground to make up. Once again Maxwell has slid himself down the order which is bewildering. Tewatia is the new man in, a promotion for him.

After 5 overs,Kings XI Punjab 29/3 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 11 , Rahul Tewatia 4)

Morgan departed in the over and Tewatia was ent up the order who drove one through covers for a boundary.

OUT! Morgan falls now and again Unadkat has done the trick. Morgan clipped one towards mid on and set off for a quick single. Little did he know about Unadkat’s direct hit skills! He scored a bull’s eye at the non-striker’s end. The umpire takes it upstairs and the big screen shows the message for the English captain, OUT!

After 4 overs,Kings XI Punjab 23/2 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 9 , Eoin Morgan 4)

This over was just like the first one. Four runs and wicket. Shaun Marsh and Martin Guptill are back in the hut and that should give Pune a lot of confidence. England captain Morgan is the new man in.

OUT! Punjab have lost their second wicket! Marsh cheekily tries to go over mid off on a length ball, but ends up handing an easy catch to Steven Smith at that position, the skipper won’t drop those.

Losing Guptill first ball is a huge blow for Kings XI and it now means that Saha will have to be the aggressor, especially after his let off. Marsh likes to take his time early on, so it’s up to Saha to go hard early and try and find the boundary with regularity. The pitch certainly doesn’t look the easiest to bat at the moment, the ball is holding up.

After 3 overs,Kings XI Punjab 19/1 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 9 , Shaun Marsh 10)

DROPPED? I think so, oh yes, definitely! Tough chance but MS Dhoni has put one down. Unadkat angles in a full ball, outside off, Saha has a go at it only to edge it behind. There was a slip too but Dhoni goes for the catch and dives to his right, only to parry the ball through his gloves to third man. That allows them to take a single. Marsh calls Saha for another run. Clean strike! Saha throws everything at that good length delivery and even though there was a deep square leg fielder present it goes sailing over him for a maximum. The bowler responds with three dot balls. Saha needs to continue and shouldn’t stop attacking, Powerplay is the only period where he finds his boundaries comfortably.

In case you missed it…

After 2 overs,Kings XI Punjab 11/1 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 2 , Shaun Marsh 9)

Thakur will bowl from the other end. Saha gets off the mark with a dab to third man and a single. Thakur over pitches on the third ball, around leg, Marsh flicks it through mid-wicket for a boundary. Beautiful shot! Two singles end the over.

Did you know?

Wriddhiman Saha’s career strike rate in T20 cricket is 131.18. However, as an opener in T20 cricket, his strike rate is 149.72.

After 1 overs,Kings XI Punjab 4/1 ( Wriddhiman Saha (W) 0 , Shaun Marsh 4)

Unadkat provides a dream start for his side, removing the dangerous Martin Guptill for a golden duck. Marsh blocks the next three deliveries before checking his drive, which goes for a boundary to covers. Jaydev ends the over with a dot. Ideal start for Pune, four runs and a wicket.

OUT! Jeez, some start this for Pune. Unadkat bowls this on a length and outside off, Guptill goes for an expansive drive, but unfortunately for him it goes straight into the hands of Manoj Tiwary at covers. The Pune crowd is excited.

The players are out in the field. Martin Guptill and Wriddhiman Saha will open. Jaydev Unadkat to bowl the first over of the innings.

Rising Pune Supergiant: Ajinkya Rahane, Rahul Tripathi, Steven Smith(c), Manoj Tiwary, Ben Stokes, MS Dhoni(w), Daniel Christian, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jaydev Unadkat, Adam Zampa

Kings XI Punjab: Martin Guptill, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Glenn Maxwell(c), Shaun Marsh, Eoin Morgan, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Swapnil Singh, Mohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, Sandeep Sharma

So it comes down to this do or die encounter for both sides. Whoever wins will be in the playoffs. That Kings XI have even got this close after some of the cricket they have played is a fantastic effort. A late run by winning four of their last five has given them a great chance to make the playoffs and potentially do some damage. Maxwell loses another toss and once again the pressure will be on Punjab to make a score their sometimes profligate bowling attack can defend. They’ve recalled Morgan for Henry to once again load up the batting in the hope the local bowlers, led by Sandeep, can step up.

Pune run into the top half of the table has almost been a fairy tale, but it could all come undone if they falter at this step. Such is the ruthlessness of sport, it can keep fairy tales firmly confined to the pages. This is also Ben Stokes’ last game. Can he make a happy ending?

Toss – RPS have won the toss and opted to field.

Hello and welcome to the Live coverage of the penultimate match of the IPL league stage between Rising Pune Supergiant and Kings XI Punjab. Winner goes through to the play-offs, while the loser goes out. It’s pretty straight forward. So stick around for all Live updates from the game