IPL 10: Match 30, Who Said What: Rising Pune Supergiant v Kolkata Knight Riders

Two teams who had the winning momentum on their side were coming into this game. Rising Pune Supergiant also had the advantage of playing in their own backyard and who knows doing well at home better than the Kolkata Knight Riders. Gautam Gambhir having turned around the previous game after the first half won the toss and wanted to chase.

It proved to be the right decision in the end after they managed to chase down 183 with utmost ease and 7 wickets in hand. Pune were powered by a half century from skipper Steve Smith and MS Dhoni’s fireworks but twin fifties from Robin Uthappa and Gautam along with Sunil Narine’s cameo at the start gave them the 2 points.

Smith was disappointed and thought they could have scored a few more runs which didn’t quite appear to him at the halfway stage. He also praised Gambhir and Uthappa for the way they took the game away from the hosts.

“At the halfway point I thought it was a good total. Wicket was reasonably slow and boys did well to get 180. But the dew came in and the wicket sped up. You could see guys were able to hit through the line beautifully. Gauti and Uthappa paced their innings beautifully,” Smith said.

A surprising exclusion from the RPS team today was Ben Stokes, the allrounder who was the Man of the Match in the previous encounter missed out here and Smith didn’t quite reveal the reason at the toss but after the game admitted that they missed the English cricketers services and that he was out with an injury.

“Yeah, Stokes was missed, he’s a world-class performer but he was injured,” he said.

Talking further on the aspects Pune missed out the skipper added, “We’ve been dropping a few catches and it’s something we have got to change. Not sure whether it’s an attitude thing or not. Guys are working on it in training, but just haven’t been able to put it together on the field. It can happen sometimes.”

Gautam Gambhir was elated with his team’s performance and why not, they now have back to back wins and sit quite comfortable in the points table as well.

In the post-match presentation ceremony where he was awarded the stylish player of the game award, Gauti said,

“I thought we are a good chasing side. It was a very good wicket. All the credit needs to go to the bowlers. It is always good to keep contributing. The Orange cap does not matter much if you don’t have enough points in the points table. All the three spinners bowled really well. We have a hectic schedule. We have a game at 4 O’ clock on the 28th and then another on 30th. We don’t want a bowler like NCN to play with a niggle.”

After being granted a life on 12 form 12 balls Robin Uthappa made RPS pay concluding the game with a 47-ball 87-run knock. He was also rewarded with the Man of the Match for his performance.

“I have always been strong. I said to somebody a few weeks ago that I have settled down with my technique. I feel confident and I am enjoying myself out there. It is very important to respect the momentum that we have created for ourselves. Genrally what happens is a team starts well and then takes the foot of the pedal of in the second half of the tournament. We have discussed that it is important to finish in the top two. I can get better with the gloves. I am enjoying it though. MS has set the benchmark for all the Indians. Trying to get there, slowly but surely. It is slighty a slower wicket compared to where we are coming from. Initially it was slightly dry but under the lights, with the dew, it gets better for batting.” Uthappa said.