IPL: Ben Stokes helps Supergiant to victory

Supergiant v RCB scores

Rising Pune Supergiant (20/20) 161-8 (Tripathi 31, Rahane 30; Milne 2-27, Aravind 2-29)

Royal Challengers Bangalore (20/20) 134-9 (De Villiers 29, Kohli 28; Stokes 3-18, Thakur 3-35)

Supergiant beat RCB by 27 runs

Match report

Ben Stokes played a starring role with the ball for Rising Pune Supergiant in their 27-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL on Sunday.

Stokes took 3-18 - including the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli (28 off 19 balls) - as Pune successfully defended their 161-8 score at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The defeat is RCB's fourth in their opening five games and sees them slip to the bottom of the IPL 10 table.

Earlier, after being put into bat first, Pune had seemingly squandered a strong start to their innings with a batting collapse of five wickets for three runs, which included Stokes falling for two.

Pune openers Ajinkya Rahane (30 off 25) and Rahul Tripathi (31 off 23) played nicely, and when the pair departed within four balls of each other - Kohli taking a stunning catch at cover to dismiss the latter - Steve Smith and MS Dhoni looked equally impressive with the bat.

Smith (27 off 24) kept the scoreboard ticking over, while Dhoni was a bit more aggressive in his 25-ball 28 which included one staggering six that cleared the roof of the stadium.

But it was Dhoni's dismissal to end the 16th over that triggered Pune's dramatic collapse that looked to have cost them the game.

Sreenath Aravind (2-29) and Adam Milne (2-27) - in for a poorly Tymal Mills - took the other four wickets across the next two overs, but then a vital Manoj Tiwary (27 off 11) cameo lifted the Pune's score and spirits going into RCB's reply.

Jaydev Unadkat (2-25) got rid of Mandeep Singh for a duck in the second over, but it wasn't exactly the wicket he wanted, with Kohli dropped twice earlier in the over. Kohli didn't really make the most of the reprieve though, and he fell in Stokes' first over, top-edging a short ball.

A shell-shocked RCB side managed only one boundary between the fifth and 15th overs of their innings - an AB de Villiers six off Imran Tahir, but the legspinner had his South African team-mate stumped for 29 in his next over thanks to some fine work by Dhoni.

The home side's last real hope rested with Shane Watson, but it was Stokes again who got the decisive breakthrough, bowling the Australian for 14 with one that kept low.

Wickets continued to tumble in the final overs with RCB well behind the required rate, Stokes earning his third by bowling Milne in the final over.