IPL: MS Dhoni blasts Pune Supergiant to last-ball win

IPL scores (Pune)

Result:  Rising Pune Supergiant won by six wickets

Sunrisers Hyderabad inns: (20 overs) 176-3 (Henriques 55*, Warner 43, S Dhawan 30)

Rising Pune Supergiant inns: (20 overs) 179-4 (Dhoni 61*, Tripathi 59, Smith 27). 

Match report

MS Dhoni returned to form with a destructive, match-winning fifty as Rising Pune Supergiant chased down 176 to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets.

With two needed from the final ball, the former India captain smeared it through the covers for four to finish unbeaten on 61 from 34 balls.

Having posted 176-3 from their 20 overs, Sunrisers looked on course for victory with RPS some 47 runs short of their target with three overs remaining.

However, it is in such situations that Dhoni has thrived throughout his career and, with the home crowd willing him to succeed, he did so again - smashing four fours and two sixes to stun the defending champions and lift RPS up to fourth in the IPL standings.

The Sunrisers themselves had needed some impressive hitting late in the innings to get up to a competitive total. Moises Henriques blitzed 55 not out from 28 balls after David Warner (43 from 40 balls) struggled to get going despite batting almost 17 overs.

Henriques and Deepak Hooda took advantage of some slack RPS bowling at the death to score 42 from the last three overs and that burst appeared to be the difference prior to Dhoni's latest last-gasp heroics.

Dhoni arrived at the crease following the unfortunate dismissal of Steve Smith (27), the Australia skipper chopping the ball onto his pad before seeing it ricochet onto his stumps.

Rashid Khan was the bowler to benefit and when the 18-year-old Afghan threw down the stumps to run out Rahul Tripathi, who had made a quick-fire 59, the RPS challenge seemed to be fading.

Ben Stokes (10) then holed out but Dhoni remained, biding his time before signalling his intent with a trademark six, flat over long on, in the 15th over.

The onslaught that followed came as little surprise, his lean spell at the start of this year's IPL soon forgotten, and left with the responsibility of completing the job from the final delivery, Dhoni did not disappoint.