MS Dhoni played his first Indian Premier League match without the skipper’s cap during the IPL 2017 clash between Rising Pune Supergiant and Mumbai Indians on Thursday, which the hosts won by 7 wickets, thanks to the ball thrashing performances from Ajinkya Rahane (60 off 34) and Steven Smith (84* off 54).
Batting first, Mumbai Indians gave a target of 185 runs to RPS as they never were able to register a dependable partnership, with no player even crossing the 40-runs mark. Josh Butler (38 off 19) and Hardik Pandya (35 off 15) were the key players for their side as it were their knocks that took the Rohit Sharma-led side to register 184 runs in those 20 humiliating overs.
Imran Tahir (7.00) and Rajat Bhatia (4.67) were the key bowlers for the visitors in the RPS vs MI clash of IPL 2017 as they had 5 scalps between them.
Rising Pune Supergiants, who debuted last year, had never won a home game but Steven Smith and Ajinkya Rahane defied all odds and took their team to the first ever home ground victory. None of the Mumbai Indians’ bowlers were spared and RPS sounded a holler of their presence at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune.
Captain #Smithy clinches a thriller at our fortress! 😎#RangWahiJungNayi #RPSvMI pic.twitter.com/X6hCvnu181
— RisingPuneSupergiant (@RPSupergiants) April 6, 2017
However, the highlight of the match was MS Dhoni’s wit that left us in splits during the second match of IPL 2017. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is always a man with concentration on the field but there was a moment when he decided to have a “go” at Kevin Pietersen, his former IPL teammate.
Manoj Tiwary was at first slip, and was on the microphone, chatting with Pietersen when the former England captain said: “You are looking good, mate. Can you just do me a favour and can you just whisper in MS’ ear that I am a better golfer than him? Please.”
Tiwary, gathering all the courage he needed, went up to the wicketkeeper and conceded the message. MS Dhoni in a split of second leaned towards the microphone and take a witty jibe at his former IPL teammate.
Watch what he said here:
https://twitter.com/maheshreddy2301/status/850146343276482561
NOTE: The video was embedded from Twitter and rapidleaks.com doesn’t claim any right on it.
Kevin Pietersen was so impressed with Dhoni’s wit that he took on to Twitter after the conclusion of the RPS vs MI game.
Magnificent from @msdhoni on the mic this eve! So much fun for viewers to get the humorous side of a champion! I'm still better at golf! https://t.co/nyTF49vUe5
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) April 6, 2017
This is what MS Dhoni was referring to:
( Video Courtesy: Shubham Jaiswal )
Dhoni was forced to bowl during a Test match against England at Lord’s in 2011 after Zaheer Khan went off the field with a torn hamstring. Pietersen was trapped in a leg on the former Indian captain’s delivery, only to find being overruled by DRS. He never bowled in Tests again.