Kolkata: Debuting skipper Steven Smith, it seems, cannot do anything wrong in Pune. After Australia’s lone Test win in the just=concluded series loss to India, he led Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) to a seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League 2017 match, following a tense last-over finish late on Thursday evening.
The Aussie skipper finished off in style with two successive sixes in the final over and remained unbeaten on 84 off 54 as Pune reached 185 with one ball to spare. Pune required 13 in the final over and Smith smashed a six off the fourth ball, picking a Kieron Pollard slow delivery making it four runs in two balls for Pune. But Smith decided to cut it short to hit another six in the penultimate delivery to notch up 187 for 3 in 19.5 overs.
Earlier, Ajinkya Rahane also hit a brilliant 60 off 34 peppered with six fours and three sixes. Smith and Rahane put on a valuable 58 for the second wicket in seven overs to make it comfortable in the end.
Brief Scores: Rising Pune Supergiant 187/3 in 19.5 overs (Steve Smith 84*, Ajinkya Rahane 60, Ben Stokes 21; Imran Tahir 3/28) beat Mumbai Indians 184/8 (Jos Butler 38, Hardik Pandya* 35, Nitish Rana 34; Hardik Pandya 1/31) by 7 wickets.