After three straight losses, Mumbai Indians finally came up trumps when it mattered most, beating Rising Pune Supergiant by one run in a thrilling final to clinch a record third Indian Premier League title in Hyderabad on Sunday. Chasing 130 for a win, Pune were restricted to 128 by some brilliant bowling by Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Johnson and Lasith Malinga.
Despite the loss, head coach Stephen Fleming hailed his Pune’s effort. “I don’t think we’re the most skilled side of the IPL at all, but what we’ve had is some players stand up out of nowhere,” said Fleming. “We take real pride in that we’ve created an environment where some players have been able to excel.”
The former New Zealand captain also cited specific examples: “Jaydev [Unadkat] has been extraordinary, even today, [Rahul] Tripathi is good, [Manoj] Tiwary is back, as well as the big stars stepped up at key times. [Ben] Stokes was fantastic for us. I’m really proud of the combination we put together in the campaign we ran. We would have loved to put the icing on the cake, but it doesn’t change my feelings about the work we did during the year to get to this point. [It’s a] young franchise, not a lot of combination against franchises that have had four years together is a tough ask. That’s why this year is so pleasing.”
In a thrilling final, Fleming suggested that the final result was a matter of “inches and metres”.
“Steve Smith came very close to winning it in the last over and it would have been a much different story. But that’s the nature of the game. It was very ebb and flow on what was a tough wicket to score on,” he said. “ We knew it was going to be tough. Their bowling attack was top-class. We gave it a good shot, fell behind a couple of times, lost wickets at key times, and we just couldn’t get that over that killed the game. They just hung in, hung in, and created enough pressure to get across the line. It was a great final – it was full of pressure, full of mistakes, full of great performances, and a grand finish to a good competition.”
The former New Zealand captain also spoke about his relationship with MS Dhoni which goes back a long way. Fleming played for the Chennai Super Kings in 2008 and was then appointed the team’s head coach, where he forged a successful partnership with Dhoni.
“I enjoy working with [MS Dhoni] immensely. We’ve got a proud record over 10 years. We’ve got some good history and a pretty strong relationship, so that was fine,” said Fleming. “Steve was the captain this year, and MS just slotted into a senior-player role very easily. He’s a proud man but he’s also a very humble man. He did the job very well. We saw the interaction between the two and other leaders. Dhoni’s contribution has been great as usual. He’s disappointed as we all are with the result, but I’m sure they will bounce [back] in the future, with the Champions Trophy.”