Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) virtually walked its way into the Vivo Indian Premier League final. The first to get there, but the journey was not a steady one. Pune started the season with a controversial removal of MS Dhoni from captaincy and assigned Steven Smith as their new boss. They won their first game but a string of losses pointed at the fact that maybe not much had changed from last season.
There after Pune have been brilliant, winning 8 out of their last 10 matches and climbed to the second spot in the table.in the play offs they defeated in-form Mumbai with an all-round cricketing brilliance and marched in to the finals.
When asked about the reason behind the success, RPS captain Smith credited the youngsters for the team’s success this season.
“Those guys are quite young and have not played those high pressure final games. That can play into your favour sometimes. They can play with freedom and do the job,” Smith told reporters on the eve of the IPL final against Mumbai Indians in Hyderabad on Sunday.
“I thought Washington was absolutely fantastic the other night in Mumbai. For a 17-year-old to come out against some quality players and do what he did was outstanding.
Washington Sundar took 8 wickets from 10 matches at an economy rate of 6.61. It was Washington’s three wicket performance that helped Rising Pune Super Gaint to beat Mumbai Indians and to enter their first IPL final.
“The young guys have been a real big part of our success so far throughout this tournament and hopefully they can have better success tomorrow night,” Smith added
Rahul Tripathi the another youngster who made huge contributions for the success of RPS by scoring 388 runs from 13 games.
Jaidev Undkat also proved his worth by taking 22 wicket from just 11 matches that includes a brilliant hat trick against Sun Risers Hyderabad