Stokes half century propels Supergiant to 163 for 6 against Kings XI

Photo: BCCI New Delhi: Ben Stokes’ maiden half-century and a free flowing Manoj Tiwary took Rising Pune Supergiant to 163 for 6 in their opening match of IPL 10 against Rising Pune Supergiant in Indore. The highest paid cricketer of this year, Stokes has already started to repay every penny to the Punjab franchise. The England all-rounder played a blazing innings of 50 off 32 balls with 3 sixes and 2 fours. Pune were at one stage 71 for 4 with Smith, Dhoni all back in the hut. But Stokes stitched a crucial 62 run partnership with Manoj Tiwary (40) to enable the home side to reach a respectable total. Put into bat, Kings XI were off to a nightmarish start when opener Mayank Agarawal (0) lost his middle stump to Sandeep Sharma in the very first over. Debutant T Natarajan, got the all important of Ajinkya Rahane for 19. Captain Steve Smith again looked to be in complete control before getting out caught in the deep off Marcus Stoinis for 26. The Pune innings went downhill from there on as former captain MS Dhoni found it difficult to rotate the strike. Some control bowling by Stoinis and left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh got Pune into a strangle. Swapnil then gave a telling blow to Pune by removing an out of touch Dhoni for 5 off 11. Manoj Tiwary joined Stokes and resurrected the innings which got an ideal finish in the end courtesy Australian all-rounder Dan Christian, who slammed a couple of boundaries and a six in the last over. For Punjab, Sandeep Sharma returned with figures of 2 for 33 and was well supported by Stoinis, Swapnil and Natarajan who all picked up a wicket a-piece.