Preview: After losing to Rising Pune Supergiant in both their home and away encounters during the league stages of the Indian Premier League (IPL), table-toppers Mumbai Indians will need to pull up their socks when they take on Steve Smith’s side in the first qualifier at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday. There is a lot at stake as the winning team goes straight into the final to be played in Hyderabad on May 21, while the losing side gets another chance in the second qualifier, to be played on May 19 in Bengaluru. [caption id=“attachment_3449746” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of RPS skipper Steven Smith and MI skipper Rohit Sharma.[/caption] Mumbai Indians, even after resting six of their regular XI, outplayed the Kolkata Knight Riders in their last league match to secure the top spot. Going into Tuesday’s clash, Mumbai Indians are expected to be back with their tried and tested combination, except a few changes. Mumbai’s batting has clicked big time this season. When the likes of West Indians Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard, stumper Parthiv Patel, skipper Rohit Sharma and young Nitish Rana fire in unison, they can destroy any bowling line-up in the world and Pune’s will be no exception. Besides the top order, the all-round duo of Pandya brothers, Krunal and Hardik, are delivering when needed and the hosts will expect them to rise to the big occasion. Among the changes, the home team can bring in an in-form Ambati Rayadu in place of Nitish Rana to bolster their batting. In the bowling department, Sri Lankan Lasith Malinga and New Zealand’s Mitchell McClenghan are likely to share the new ball before the death over specialist Jasprit Bumrah comes in along with Hardik. Veteran Harbhajan Singh and leg-spinner Karn Sharma can take care of the middle overs. On the other hand, Pune will desperately miss the services of their costliest buy this season, England’s Ben Stokes, who will join his national side ahead of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy, next month. Stokes has proved his worth this season, both with the bat and ball whenever the situation demanded. But Smith’s side will take a lot of heart from the performance of their bowlers in their last league tie against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday. Their pacers Jaydev Unadkat (21 wickets), Shardul Thakur (8 wickets) and Dan Christian (9 wickets) have been impressive and regularly taking wickets. The trio will need to strike once again to restrict Mumbai and also require support from Australian leggie Adam Zampa. In the batting department, Pune will bank on their top order comprising Rahul Tripathi, Ajinkya Rahane and Smith to give them a platform for Manoj Tiwary and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to flourish later in the order. It will be interesting to see who fills in for the loss of Stokes, who could play the long handle besides steaming in regularly at 140 km/hr. With inputs from IANS
IPL 2017, Highlights MI vs RPS, Qualifier 1 in Mumbai, cricket score and updates: Pune win by 20 runs, qualify for the final
Catch all the live updates of the first qualifier of the IPL 2017 between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant at the Wankhede Stadium.
 "IPL 2017, Highlights MI vs RPS, Qualifier 1 in Mumbai, cricket score and updates: Pune win by 20 runs, qualify for the final")
Teams to beat Mumbai Indians thrice in a single IPL season:
Chennai Super Kings in 2014
Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017*
MS Dhoni’s finals in T20 cricket:
WT20 2007, WT20 2014
IPL 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017*
CLT20 2010
Asia Cup 2016
Good teams aren't affected by the absence of one player. The others step up. Well played @RPSupergiants
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 16, 2017
Teams who had won the first qualifier and gone on to win the IPL title:
2011 – CSK
2012, 2014 – KKR
2015 – MI
Will RPS win in 2017?
Teams who had lost the first qualifier and gone on to win the IPL title:
2013 – Mumbai Indians
Will MI repeat it in 2017 also?
MS Dhoni will play his seventh IPL final this year – the most for any player.
2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017*
Overheard a Mumbai fan saying,“We lost to Pune to make them feel better.” Well, whatever makes THEM feel better.
Can’t help but think of Dhoni’s shots and Sundar’s double-strike that proved to Pune’s win. For Smith and Co, they’ve gone 3-0 against Mumbai this season!!
After 19 overs,Mumbai Indians 133/8 ( Mitchell McClenaghan 12 , Jasprit Bumrah 14)
McClenaghan slogs across the line again, Rahane hares across from deep mid-wicket, catches the ball but loses control and goes over the boundary. But he threw the ball back to Smith. Smith thinks Mitchell is gone but Rahane signals that its a six. And the replays confirm the same as he had steppe on the advertising board.
My thinking behind Dhoni over Sundar for m-o-m. Dhoni countered the pitch, Sundar, well as he bowled, benefitted from it.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 16, 2017
After 18 overs,Mumbai Indians 124/8 ( Mitchell McClenaghan 5 , Jasprit Bumrah 12)
Bumrah hits a six and the crowd has something to cheer for. 13 runs come off Christian’s over.
Gujurat Lions win the fair play award....the only thing they won during their existence.... #ipl
— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) May 16, 2017
After 17 overs,Mumbai Indians 111/8 ( Mitchell McClenaghan 4 , )
A wicket and four runs off Unadkat’s third over. His consistency continues.
After 16 overs,Mumbai Indians 107/7 ( Mitchell McClenaghan 2 , Karn Sharma 2)
McClenaghan and Sharma try to go for the big shots but Christian bowls brilliantly. Only 4 runs off the over.
Washington Sundar conceded 16 runs today from four overs which is the joint fewest by any bowler from four overs having an age less than 20. The fewest is 15 conceded by Kamran Khan at the age of 18 years and 44 days while playing for Rajasthan Royals against Kolkata Knight Riders at Cape Town in 2009.
After 15 overs,Mumbai Indians 104/7 ( Mitchell McClenaghan 1 , Karn Sharma 0)
This over has potentially sealed it for Pune. Shardul removed both Parthiv Patel and Krunal Pandya and gave only five runs in his third over.
After 14 overs,Mumbai Indians 98/5 ( Parthiv Patel (W) 49 , Krunal Pandya 15)
Parthiv slices Christian over covers for a single. 1, 1L, 2: next three balls. FOUR! Krunal opens the face of the bat and guides one past third man for a boundary. FOUR! Misjudgement from Shardul Thakur in the deep. Parthiv pulls one hard over mid-wicket, Shardul runs in not being able to comprehend the pace of the ball and the ball goes over him for a boundary. He also hurt his head in the process.
After 13 overs,Mumbai Indians 85/5 ( Parthiv Patel (W) 48 , Krunal Pandya 4)
Fires one at 96 kph, Krunal looks to nudge it away but it takes the outside edge and goes towards short third man one. Another single is taken off the second ball. Krunal looks to go big but Sundar bowls a fast one and the southpaw has to block it, Pandya lofts one in the air and it falls well short of the long off fielder. Another run taken. A single to end Washington Sundar’s best bowling performance in T20 cricket. His figures are 4-016-3.
After 12 overs,Mumbai Indians 81/5 ( Parthiv Patel (W) 46 , Krunal Pandya 2)
Ferguson comes into the attack and removes the dangerous looking Hardik immediately. He slides a wide to Krunal Pandya first up. Jaffa! Angles a length ball, which is going away, the southpaw looks to run it down but gets beaten. Krunal flicks the next ball through square leg to get off the mark with a single. Ferguson bowls a lot of wides. Even the last one is a wide down the leg side but the umpire decides to end the 10-ball over. Strange.
After 11 overs,Mumbai Indians 75/4 ( Parthiv Patel (W) 46 , Hardik Pandya 14)
Patel gets a leading edge off the first ball but it lands safe. Four runs off the over.
Good call for @RPSupergiants to turn to Zampa. In his @IPL career Hardik averages just 7.75 runs per dismissal v leg spin. #IPL
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) May 16, 2017
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