Pune rise after super-low total in Bengaluru

The result: Rising Pune Supergiant 8-161 (Tripathi 31, Milne 2-29) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore 9-134 (De Villiers 29, Stokes 3-18) by 27 runs.

The match in a tweet: Steve Smith's men defend Bengaluru record-low total with Stokes firing and Kohli doused as RCB resigned to bottom-of-the-table.

The undefendable: No team has ever defended a smaller total than Pune’s 8-161 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, with Steve Smith’s side re-writing the IPL record books. In the last ten matches at the ground, scores under 200 have all been chased down while anything over 200 has been defended, but Smith’s brilliant bowling changes and fielding placements paired with the execution of Jaydev Unadkat (2-25), Shardul Thakur (3-35) and Ben Stokes (3-18) very quickly changed that. This is also the first win the Rising Pune Supergiant have had over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their short history.

Super Stokes: A heavy price tag comes with even heavier expectations, and although Ben Stokes has been good, he hasn’t yet been great in this year’s IPL. But his restrictive performance with the ball earned him plaudits, leaking just 18 runs from his four allotted overs and taking the key wickets of Virat Kohli, Shane Watson as well as Kiwi tail-ender Adam Milne. Thirteen of his 24 balls were dots and his change-ups were cleverly disguised to be a major contributor to his side’s second victory this year. And that's not to mention his heroic boundary-line effort to stop a certain six, a bit of fielding to rival Virat Kohil's earlier screamer.

Dhoni's Supergiant six: While he hasn't been at his absolute best during IPL10, the M Chinnaswamy crowd got a reminder of MS Dhoni's immense power when he sent Yuzvendra Chahal out of the ground and onto the roof. Of batsmen to have faced a minimum of 70 balls, Dhoni has the lowest strike-rate of just 87, scoring just 61 runs from five opportunities at the crease. But if this blow was anything to go by, IPL bowlers shouldn't write off the former India skipper just yet. And his glovework was typically sharp; a lightning-quick stump to remove AB de Villiers showing he's still got his reflexes.

The Tiwary show: Despite the low score, things could’ve been a lot tighter had it not been for Manoj Tiwary and his late-innings blast. The RPS batsman took to Watson, taking his final over for three boundaries and a much needed six, before depositing Milne over the fence too. He finished with 27 runs - his side's eventual margin of victory - from just 11 balls

The star power dimmed: Under the leadership of Watson, Bangalore claimed a shock-win over the Delhi Daredevils without AB de Villiers and Kohli in the side, leading many to wonder what they could achieve with their best players fit and firing. But they've faltered in their two starts with both stars in the side. In their two matches together, Kohli top-scored in game one while de Villiers did best among the RCB batsmen against Pune, though neither have played the kind of match-winning hand that saw them get within a stone’s throw from the title last year.

The Aussie pack: It was a quiet night for the Aussies in this match with Watson leaking 44 runs from his four overs and contributing 14 runs with the bat before being completely deceived bya Stokes slower ball. The allrounder did however claim the crucial scalp of Dhoni. Smith scored 27 at better than a run-a-ball but was undone by Sreenath Aravind to have his stumps rearranged while Dan Christian added just one with the bat though was tidy with the ball, going for 26 from his allotted overs.

The wash-up: Virat Kohli’s men head to Rajkot on Wednesday to meet fellow cellar-dwellars Gujarat in a must-win clash to keep hope alive for a playoffs berth, with coach Dan Vettori floating mass changes in the offing for the struggling RCB side. The Supergiant meet Hyderabad on Saturday in the first meeting between Steve Smith and David Warner in opposite camps as captains.