On this day in 2017: Mumbai win their third IPL title by just 1 run against Pune
- The 2017 IPL final witnessed a low-scoring cliffhanger that would have had millions of fans watching the match with bated breath. On 21st May 2017, Mumbai Indians beat Rising Pune Supergiant by a slender margin of just one run in the finale to lift the IPL title for the 3rd time.
CHAMPIONS – 2017 #IPLfinal pic.twitter.com/cK1N9FjHPP
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 21, 2017
On the day of the final, MI won the toss and decided to bat first. Even though their top order failed to get going, Krunal Pandya scored a crucial 47 off 38 deliveries to lend some respectability to the team. MI finished their innings with the scorecard reading 129/8 in 20 overs.
For the Pune outfit, Jaydev Unadkat, Adam Zampa, and Dan Christian picked up two wickets each. RPS started their innings in a positive fashion with Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith scoring 44 and 51 respectively. But after the dismissal of Rahane and Smith, RPS lost their momentum and could not press on the accelerator as the Mumbai bowlers constantly applied pressure with the ball.
The ultimate final over
The equation boiled down to 11 runs off the final over. Mitchell Johnson did a wonderful job for Mumbai, and gave away 9 runs in the 20th over, as the Pune side fell short of the Mumbai Indians’ total by just 1 run. With the ball in hand, Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the bowlers for the Mumbai outfit. The left-arm seamer scalped 3 wickets in his quota of 4 overs and gave away 26 runs.
Jasprit Bumrah did an excellent job too, and picked up 2 wickets in 4 overs, giving away runs at an economy rate of 6.50 runs per over. And, for his timely 47 that allowed the Rohit Sharma-led side to emerge as the winners in a nail-biting roller coaster, Krunal Pandya was awarded the Player of the Match award.
