IPL 10, Match 28, MI vs RPS: CT player of the match – Ben Stokes

Mumbai Indians were on a 6 match winning streak before their clash against Rising Pune Supergiant and were the favorites to win their 7th on their home ground of Wankhede Stadium. They had the presence of the great man Sachin Tendulkar on the ground on the occasion of his 44th birthday.

But the party was spoiled by the visitors as they emerged victorious in a thrilling contest. They had put up a mediocre total of 160/6 on the board that didn’t seem like enough against the strong batting line-up of MI. The hosts were in control of the game until the very end but the Englishman Ben Stokes stood between MI and their 7th win.

The all-rounder played a crucial role in RPS’ victory and for his wonderful performance in the game, he is our Player of the Match. Here is a look at his outstanding effort from the match:

A decent start with the bat

He had walked in to bat in the 13th over after the fall of his skipper Steve Smith. The score read 104 and he had MS Dhoni for a company at the crease. Stokes smashed the first ball he faced for a boundary off Mitchell Johnson towards the leg side. It seemed as if the fans were in for a Stokes special finish.

But his stay in the middle didn’t last for too long as he was castled by the same bowler in the 17th over. He had to make his way back to the pavilion as his knock was curtailed to 17 off 12 balls that included a couple of boundaries.

Brilliant with the ball

Stokes was called into bowl the fifth over of the innings and he removed the dangerous Jos Buttler off just the second ball of his spell. He didn’t let the new man Nitish Rana score a single run off the remaining deliveries and it turned out to be a maiden over.

Next, he found himself into the attack in the 13th over and picked up the wicket of Karn Sharma off the first ball. The 25-year-old kept bowling superbly and had figures of 2/15 after 3 overs.

The Mumbai batsmen went after other bowlers and took the equation down to 24 off 12 balls. Stokes was handed over the responsibility to bowl the penultimate over with Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya at the crease.

Stokes continued on his merry run and bowled a terrific over. He gave away just 7 runs that had 6 singles off the 6 balls with one going for a wide down the leg side. His pinpoint accuracy with the yorkers didn’t let the batsmen get under the ball and the pacer was hitting the blockhole more often than not.

It meant that 17 runs were required off the last over and it was going to be tough for the batsmen to chase down.

The catch that sealed it

Jaydev Unadkat ran in to ball the last over and he induced a top edge off Pandya’s bat that lobbed up in the air. Stokes was at the covers boundary and had to cover a long distance while running in. He judged the trajectory of the ball perfectly and timed the forward jump to pull off a spectacular catch that sent Pandya back in the hut.

Finally, MI fell short by 3 runs and Stokes ended up with figures of 1/21. For his all-round performance, he is CricTracker’s player of the match and earns a rating of 4 out of 5.