IPL 2017 | Kings XI Punjab vs Rising Pune Supergiants - Player ratings

Kings XI Punjab

Hashim Amla (6/10)

On a wicket, that remained two-paced until the end of the match, Amla did well to stay in the middle for a while but he batted in just one gear. Although he scored just 28 off the 27 balls he faced, he held one end brilliantly.  

Manan Vohra (4/10)

Manan Vohra was the first wicket to fall, succumbing to a short ball from Ashok Dinda after he failed to get going against the pacy deliveries of Daniel Christian. While the failure can be considered as a one-off, Punjab need him to get into the groove in the next encounters to lay a strong opening foundation. 

Wriddhiman Saha (5/10)

Wriddhiman Saha was caught in two minds while playing the legspinners of Imran Tahir and was bowled by a googly. He was impressive with the gloves as always but his application against quality spinners is seriously under doubt. 

Axar Patel (7/10)

Being promoted up the order, Patel scored 24 runs off 22 deliveries but he was pretty impressive with the ball, picking the wicket of half-centurion Ben Stokes while spending only 27 runs in four overs.

Glenn Maxwell (8/10)

The captain led the way. He scored an unbeaten 44 runs off 20 balls and made sure that his captaincy would start on a good note. Barring the match-winning innings, Maxwell also showed his tactical acumen by smartly deciding to promote Axar Patel to No. 4, ahead of himself, when Tahir was operating. 

David Miller (7/10)

Miller, who scored an unbeaten 30 runs happily played second fiddle to Maxwell, but after coming to his own, he slammed two sixes and one four against his compatriot Imran Tahir to take Punjab comfortably home with an over to spare. Although he was not at his fluent best, it was an innings that gave Maxwell the confidence to attack the Pune bowlers. 

Marcus Stoinis (7/10)

Although Stoinis spent 28 runs in his three overs, he picked up the wicket of dangerous Steve Smith with a delivery that rose on Smith, which he chipped to the fielder at deep square leg. Had it not been the wicket, Punjab would have found themselves chasing a bigger total.

Swapnil Singh (6/10)

Playing only the second game of his IPL career, the Baroda off-spinner made good use of the slow deck as he threw 2 overs and giving away only 14 runs in the process. He snared the wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni to leave Pune tottering 71 for 4 in the 12th over.  

Mohit Sharma (6/10)

The Indian pacer had a decent day at the office as he conceded only 34 runs in his four overs. Even though he doesn’t have any wicket to show for his effort, he was pretty impressive with the ball. Punjab need him to continue in the same fashion throughout the campaign if they want to make it to the playoffs.  

Sandeep Sharma (7/10)

Sandeep Sharma struck early on the day disturbing Mayank Agarwal’s stumps. Just after an over, he would have picked Ajinkya Rahane’s too, but Vohra dropped the catch in the cover region. He later came back to pick the wicket of Daniel Christian, ending the day with the figures of 33 for 2. 

T Natarajan (7/10)

The Tamil Nadu left-arm seamer made his IPL debut today, and picked up the slack very soon, by dismissing Rahane in his very first over. He spent runs at an economy rate of 8.67. Certainly a good prospect for future.

Rising Pune Supergiants

Ajinkya Rahane ( 5/10)

After the dismissal of Mayank Agarwal, Ajinkya Rahane had to take the onus on his shoulder, but he failed to emulate the performance of their tournament opener and get enough elevation on a shot to go past Marcus Stoinis at sweeper cover.

Mayank Agarwal (3/10)

Sandeep Sharma bowled Mayank Agarwal for a duck in the first over of the match. It was Agarwal's 28th dismissal within the Powerplay in 39 IPL innings he has played so far. Such performances don’t tell us the amount of talent that he has and Agarwal will need to pull up his socks at the earliest to stay in this talented Pune side.

Steve Smith (6/10)

He had a rare off day today, but that is more because of the astronomical heights that he has set himself for. With Smith’s success lies Pune’s progress, the team would want him to do well in next fixtures.

Ben Stokes (8/10)

Right since the Englishman’s name triggered a bidding war at the player auction, a lot has been expected from him. And today, he did not disappoint with a timely 50 that provided the much-needed impetus to Pune to put up a reesonable total on the board.

MS Dhoni (5/10)

Very patchy throughout the innings. He didn’t seem comfortable during his brief stay at the creae and perished to Swapnil Singh by playing a heartless shot. 

Manoj Tiwary (7/10)

If it was not the outstanding fifth-wicket partnership of 61 runs off 37 balls between Ben Stokes and Manoj Tiwary, Punjab would have had to chase a rather modest total. But the Bengal skipper ensured that they kept the Pune unit in the game. 

Daniel Christian (6/10)

Christian’s cameo towards the end of the innings surged Pune to 163/6. But the Victoria pacer couldn’t pick any wicket and spent 24 runs in 2 overs.

Rajat Bhatia (5/10)

It was a bit surprising why Smith used Bhatia so late in the Punjab innings considering his contribution in Pune’s first match. He has the ability to break the partnership and he been used a little earlier, it could have been a different story altogether.

Rahul Chahar (6/10)

The 17-year-old leg-spinner had replaced his older brother Deepak Chahar in the side and started his second over conceding a six but ended the over with the wicket of the settled Amla. Rahul had already shown his mettle in the under-19 Asia Cup earlier this year and on this big stage if he can continue to perform like today, who knows what is in the store for the younger Chahar.

Imran Tahir (7/10)

To think of Imran Tahir came as a replacement for an injured Mitchell Marsh seems weird. The No.1 T20 bowler in the world, Tahir made his googly talk as he picked up yet another two wickets in today's game. 

Ashok Dinda (6/10)

He somehow managed to bury the ghosts of the last match, where he gave away 30 runs in the last over. Dinda picked up the wicket up Manan Vohra, who succumbed to a shorter ball and conceded 26 runs in his three overs.