Rampaging Rohit slays struggling Supergiants

The match in a tweet: Smith fires early but Supergiants run out of steam as Mumbai cruise chasing 160 thanks to Rohit’s unbeaten 85.

The hero: When Mumbai win there is always one man that stands out – Rohit Sharma. The Indians captain guided his team to their third consecutive victory and in the process hit his fifth half-century this season. Know as the 'Hit-man' when in form, Rohit remained unbeaten on 85 from 60, hitting eight four and three sixes, two of them travelling over 100 metres. 

The support cast: Jasprit Bumrah might not be the best fielder going around but he is one hell of a bowler. The man with a lethal yorker and a cleverly-disguised slower-ball put a halt to the Pune proceedings with figures of 3-0-29-3. Bowling in tandem with Mitchell McClenaghan at the death, the pair only conceded 24 runs in the last three overs to restrict Pune to a below-par total of 159.

The consolation effort: Steve Smith carried on from where he left off couple of nights ago. The Aussie skipper hit five boundaries from his first eight balls to get his team off to a blazing start. With Mumbai Indians adopting a line wide outside off-stump, Smith adjusted perfectly, shuffling further across and using the pace of the ball to his own advantage. At one stage, Smith had raced to 40 (16) and looked a sure thing to post a substantial score before edging one behind trying to guide one to third-man.

The turning point: Having blazed to 45 (23) it was almost inevitable that Smith would steer Pune to a total in proximity of 180. But the minute the Aussie skipper fell in the 10th over with the score on 1-91, it changed the momentum of the contest. Afterward, Pune would only manage to score 67 in the last 10 overs.

The Strategy: Mumbai Indians bowling plans to each Pune batsman seem to work wonders. First, it was the probing, if unusual, eighth stump line to Smith – it eventually brought rewards with the unorthodox right-hander poking at one of those wider balls and edging through to the keeper. For Dhoni, the Mumbai bowlers kept pitching the ball on a good length, preventing him from bludgeoning shots down the ground. The India skipper only managed one boundary in the death overs and also perished to a ball on good-length for a run-a-ball 24.

The Newbies: Playing his debut IPL innings, Peter Handscomb only managed to score six before he topped edged a sweep to fine-leg. Scott Boland in the meantime, had no wickets to show for in his IPL debut but bowled admirably ending with figures of 3-0-23-0.

The wash-up: After a shaky beginning the Mumbai Indians are starting to gel nicely. The win over Pune made it three in a row for the reigning champions. With a week off to refresh, the second half could well be another success story for the Indians. The Supergiants might as well start thinking about next season and start blooding players such as Adam Zampa.

The next stops: Mumbai have few days off before travelling to their new home at Vizag to take on the Sunrisers while the Supergiants head to the national capital to take on the Daredevils.