After being asked to bat first, RR openers set up a solid platform as the Sanju Samson-led side were 140/2 in 16 overs. However, Jasprit Bumrah’s death bowling masterclass restricted them to just 171 before Quinton de Kock’s unbeaten 70 and Krunal Pandya’s 39 took MI home with ease.
Mumbai Indians got back to winning ways as they recorded a comfortable seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals and consolidated their position at No. 4 on the points table. The defending champions came into this encounter with a win-loss record of 1-5 against RR, but that barely had any impact on Rohit Sharma and co as they brushed aside the RR challenge.
On a good batting track, RR failed to capitalize on the foundation laid by the top three as they could muster just 31 runs in the last four overs and 80 runs in the last 10. It was Jasprit Bumrah who showed why he is the best in the business.
171 looked well under par, and RR were at least 15 runs short. Jos Buttler even said in the mid-innings break that they were looking for a total in excess of 180. MI barely looked in any trouble during the run-chase and wiped out the target in a clinical fashion.
It was Rohit Sharma who won the toss and inserted RR into bat first. Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal were watchful in the first four overs as Trent Boult, and Bumrah bowled very tight first spells. Once they were taken off, the RR openers went out on the attack as they plundered 27 runs in the last two powerplay overs.
Buttler struggled early on but found his tempo pretty quickly. He continued to attack and looked set for a big score, but his knock was cut short by Rahul Chahar, who had the England wicket-keeper batsman stumped in the 8th over. Sanju Samson continued the momentum and struck three boundaries in his first six balls, while Jaiswal struck a six as well. However, the latter chipped one back to Chahar to give him his second scalp of the day.
Yet, the foundation was laid, and at 91/2, RR were pretty well placed. However, Shivam Dube got stuck in the middle overs and just couldn’t get going. He sucked the momentum out of RR’s innings, and Samson’s flow at the other end got affected, as well as the RR skipper couldn’t really get a lot of strikes.
Samson and Dube batted together for 7.5 overs and added just 57 runs. Moreover, out of those, Dube scored 28 but faced 27 deliveries in that partnership. Both Samson and Dube were dismissed in successive overs as RR huffed and puffed their way to 171. Dube could muster just 35 off 31 balls while David Miller faced just four balls (scoring 7) in the entire innings.
In reply, Rohit Sharma could really get off to the start that he would’ve wanted to, but Quinton de Kock took the pressure off him from the other end. The left-handed wicket-keeper batsman finally found some form after scratching around for four innings. De Kock raced away to 29 off 19 as he helped MI get to 49 in the powerplay with the loss of Rohit, who was dismissed by Chris Morris on the last ball of the sixth over.
Even after the powerplay, the RR bowlers couldn’t really put the brakes. Suryakumar Yadav came in and played his shots while de Kock continued on his merry way. Once again, Yadav batted beautifully before he threw away another good start. It was Morris again who got RR the breakthrough. However, by the time MI lost their second wicket, they had wiped out half the runs, and it was the 10th over.
Krunal Pandya was promoted to No. 4 after Ishan Kishan had been dropped for this game. The left-handed Baroda all-rounder batted really well alongside de Kock. The latter notched up his half-century (first of this season) off 35 balls while Krunal took a few balls to settle down. Once the latter got his eye in, he struck two fours and as many sixes as de Kock was content at rotating the strike at the other end.
The duo shared a 63-run stand for the third wicket before Mustafizur Rahman knocked over Krunal. Kieron Pollard walked in at No. 5 and scored an 8-ball 16 to wrap up the run-chase in the 19th over. De Kock remained unbeaten on 70 and also won the player of the match award.
MI would’ve been happy with this performance as they bounced back well after two back to back defeats. They remain at No. 4, but they have moved away from the four-point tie between multiple sides.
Brief Scores
Rajasthan Royals 171/4 (Samson 42, Buttler 41, Jaiswal 32, Chahar 2/33, Bumrah 1/15) lost to Mumbai Indians 172/3 (de Kock 70*, Krunal 39, Morris 2/33, Mustafizur 1/37) by seven wickets
