Mumbai: Rising Pune Supergiants became the first team to seal its berth for the final of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season 10 after beating Mumbai Indians by 20 runs in the first qualifier of the cash-rich tournament at the Wankhede stadiun here tonight.
It was also the third time in the season when the Steve Smith-led Pune side emerged victorious over Mumbai.Mumbai will now take on the winner between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers hyderabad (SRH) in the second qualifier on Friday.Chasing 163 for victory, hosts Mumbai started cautiously and added 29 runs in the first four overs.
However, a balanced Mumbai batting side collapsed like a pack of cards with the first wicket falling in 4.3 overs on just 35 runs.It was in the fifth, and sixth over when the home side lost three consecutive wickets of Lendl Simmons (5), skipper Rohit Sharma (1) and Ambati Rayudu, who went off without scoring any run. It was Washigton Sundar for Pune who scalped the wickets of Sharma and Rayudu in the sixth over.
With Mumbai struggling at 41 for three in 5.4 overs, the right-arm off spinner striked again in his next over to make things worse for the host at 51 for four. Sundar's dismissed keiorn Pollard, who could only manage to score seven runs off 10 balls.(UNI)