Match 39: Pune won by 5 wickets

By: Touch on 11:42 AM

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Now this is a stunning win, recovering from the shambles of 10/3, and then 42/4. Sangwan had a pretty comeback, striking twice in his first over and sending a tizzy down Pune's spine early in the game. What stood out was the pace and bounce he extracted, getting Steven Smith out with a top-edged pull. Should suggest a lot, given Umesh and Shami and Ishant tried all winter long. Ben Stokes walked in ahead of Dhoni, and outlived him at the crease, bruting a stunning 103 off 63 balls to take his side home. Thampi threatened to turn the tables around, when he scalped Dhoni with a slower ball in the seventeenth over. Pune looked done there, because Dhoni had consumed 33 balls for his 26, but Stokes took over brilliantly, unleashing at the right time. Thampi's last over quite ironically conceded 17 runs, which had two sixes from Stokes, and that changed the game. Just eight runs were needed from six, and bam, Pune were over the line.

The The 

Man of the Match: Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes - "It's cramps in the calves. I get that a lot. Legs are not the best at the moment but I will be okay. It's great to be a part of both sides of the game; that's the best thing about being an all-rounder. We lost a few early wickets, and the start didn't help. I and MS tried to tick along and get something going. We wanted to attack early, then cool off to take it over by over. It's always nice, personal accolades and stuff like that, but we are on a roll as a team. If we keep performing like this, we can see ourselves in the final. I think the rest did me some good. I felt my training was slipping away, and I may have been doing some training that wasn't benefitting me. It was quite a good thing to go to the nets and hit the ball properly."