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The Mumbai Indians will take on the Rising Pune Supergiant in the final of the 2017 Indian Premier League. This game will be played at the Rajiv Gandhi Cricket Stadium in Deccan, Hyderabad. Follow all the IPL 2017 Final action from 12:30am (AEST) right here on The Roar.
It’s easy to say that these are the two best teams who have made it to the final of the competition this year.
» Match report: Mumbai claim third IPL title thanks to Mitchell Johnson
Mumbai had topped the points table with 20 points while Pune were second to them after the league stage of the competition with 18.
The duo clashed in the first Qualifier and Pune put it across Mumbai to make the final before the Indians knocked out the Kolkata Knight Riders in the second Qualifier to join the Rising Supergiant.
The two teams will meet for the fourth time in this year’s IPL. Pune have won all three previous outings, a statistic that will bother Mumbai Indians no end given they have dished out good showings after good showing this season.
Particularly at home, Mumbai Indians played eight games this season and the Kings XI Punjab were the only team to beat them at Wankhede Stadium apart from the Rising Pune Supergiant. Pune swatted away the Mumbai Indians twice in their own backyard, something that will continue to remain their scourge.
Unless, obviously, they can avenge those defeats with a win in the big one here.
The Mumbai Indians haven’t dependent on any one of their players for their victories. At different times in the tournament, different players have put their hand up and delivered them for the Indians.
This is evidenced in the batting and bowling statistics for the season as well. Till before the start of the playoffs, Mumbai Indians had no player in the list of top 10 run-getters in the tournament and just one in the corresponding bowling list.
Even now, despite having made the final and played the most number of games in the competition, only Parthiv Patel’s 391 runs makes the top run-scorers’ table.
In many ways, Pune have been the surprise package of the competition. Their auction looked like it was headed towards a disaster when they spent a chunk of their budget on one player, Ben Stokes and then saw the English all-rounder not have the greatest start in the competition.
There were some internal issues between those associated with the owner and former Pune captain MS Dhoni – well, at least that’s what could be inferred from the social media dealings – and there were a few early losses that seemed to have pushed the side down the rankings.
Then Dhoni played a blinder to help put it across Hyderabad, Stokes came into his own with a century and a couple of man-of-the-match awards for his all-round showing and Jaidev Unadkat sprung up to show his worth and catapulted to the second spot in the top wicket-takers’ table.
And with Pune struggling to get anywhere close to a match-winning total in their previous game, the first Qualifier, against the Mumbai Indians, Dhoni exploded into a six-hitting spree that left the opposition stunned and his own fans bedazzled yet again.
The two now meet again for the grand prize and it would be foolhardy to make any predictions. Mumbai are a better side on paper in the absence of Stokes and Imran Tahir but Pune hold the psychological advantage with those three victories.
If the pitch is a flat one, something that hasn’t been on offer in the playoffs so far, then the team batting second could have an advantage. On the other hand, a slower pitch without a dewy evening could help the team batting first. Take your pick!
Follow all the IPL 2017 Final action from 12:30am (AEST) right here on The Roar.
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