In our feature series - Who would have predicted that? – we look back at matches where there were big upsets or extraordinary individual performances that turned matches on their head.

 

It was IPL 2016 and two of the league's original franchises Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings were not part of the season. Now-defunct Gujarat Lions and Rising Pune Supergiants were accommodated in their place.

MS Dhoni, the biggest name in the Indian Premier League alongside Virat Kohli, was leading Rising Pune Supergiants. However, the team couldn't put in the kind of performances that Dhoni's original franchise Chennai Super Kings did and in this match, the IPL  betting was on Kings XI Punjab to win.

 

Match Summary

Kings XI Punjab 172/7(20 overs) - Murali Vijay 59 (41), Gurkeerat Singh Mann 51 (30); Ravichandran Ashwin 4/34(4), Ashok Dinda 1/16(3)

Rising Pune Supergiants 173/6(20 overs) - MS Dhoni* 64 (32), Usman Khawaja 30 (29); Gurkeerat Singh Mann 2/15(2), Rishi Dhawan 1/21(3)

Player of the Match - MS Dhoni

Result - Supergiants won by 4 wickets

 

With the team playing their last match of the season, RPS were not in contention for the knockouts. Their opponents Kings XI Punjab were also in the same boat. The only interest in the match, if any, was to decide which team would finish with the wooden spoon.

Batting first, Kings XI Punjab posted 172 runs from their 20 overs with half-centuries from Murali Vijay and Gurkeerat Singh Mann. Ravichandran Ashwin was the best bowler for RPS and finished with figures of 4-0-34-4.

Fall of wickets: 1-60 (Hashim Amla, 7.3 ov), 2-65 (Wriddhiman Saha, 8.3 ov), 3-123 (Murali Vijay, 15.4 ov), 4-150 (Gurkeerat Singh Mann, 17.3 ov), 5-154 (David Miller, 17.5 ov), 6-160 (Farhaan Behardien, 18.6 ov), 7-160 (Axar Patel, 19.1 ov)

Rising Pune Supergiants were struggling in the chase with periodic wickets and seemed out of the game at 86 for 5. With just six deliveries to go, the team needed 23 runs to win.

MS Dhoni was batting on 42 off 26 deliveries, but with the team six down, there was little hope that even the veteran could pull off the miracle.

After the first delivery of Axar Patel's over was a dot and the second one was given a wide, Dhoni pummelled 3 sixes and 1 four off the last five deliveries of the match to turn back the clock.

RPS didn't make it to the knockouts but finished the season on a high, credit to MS Dhoni's (64* off 32 balls) superhuman effort.

Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Ajinkya Rahane, 4.4 ov), 2-47 (George Bailey, 6.6 ov), 3-78 (Saurabh Tiwary, 11.2 ov), 4-80 (Usman Khawaja, 11.5 ov), 5-86 (Irfan Pathan, 13.2 ov), 6-144 (Thisara Perera, 18.1 ov)

 

Teams

 

Rising Pune Supergiants - Ajinkya Rahane, Usman Khawaja, George Bailey, Saurabh Tiwary, Irfan Pathan, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Thisara Perera, Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa, Ashok Dinda, Deepak Chahar 

Kings XI Punjab - Murali Vijay (c), Hashim Amla, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Axar Patel, Farhaan Behardien, Kyle Abbott, Rishi Dhawan, Mohit Sharma, Sandeep Sharma

 

Match Details

 

Match: RPS vs KXIP, 53rd Match, Indian Premier League, 2016 

Date: Saturday, May 21, 2016 

Toss: Kings XI Punjab won the toss and opt to bat  

Venue: Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam 

Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena, Nitin Menon 

Third Umpire: Chettithody Shamshuddin 

Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle

 

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