Two foreign players, Jesse Ryder and Steve Smith scripted Pune Warriors’ win over the more fancied Chennai Super Kings, reported The Times of India.
Pune pulled out one of the biggest surprise in this year as they defeated the defending champions by seven wickets at the Subrata Roy Sahara stadium. Jesse Ryder from New Zealand batted right through the innings scoring a terrific 73 runs.
Ryder was ably supported by the Aussie all-rounder Steve Smith who scored an unbeaten 44 of just 22 deliveries.
Together two guys put a 66 run partnership in just 40 balls for the fourth wicket and their partnership was the reason they outshone the defending champions.
Earlier in the day, CSK won the toss and elected to bat first, last match’s hero Faf du Plessis started the innings in style and scored 43 runs. He took the attack to Dinda in the second over of the match and pulled him for a six, reports The Hindu.
Then the slow bowlers from Warriors took control of the match and bowled some tidy overs. They bowled according to the plan and put a stranglehold on the innings; they bowled well against the power hitters like Raina and Dhoni and did not let them get away.
After the run-a-ball innings by Dhoni and Raina it was left to the million dollar baby Ravindra Jadeja to provide the late burst for CSK. He did not disappoint his fans as he took the innings past the 150 mark with a 26 ball 44.
Jesse Ryder’s innings of 73 proved too strong for the Chennai Super Kings to handle. He applied himself brilliantly and played a very calculative innings, reports Deccan Herald. He lost his opening partner early but he stuck to his role and took the innings forward.
Despite his partners struggling at the other end, Ryder went about his business hitting the loose deliveries to the boundaries.
The best thing about Ryder’s innings was that he never panicked and played till the end.