This is Rajasthan Royals’ third successive win as they took the top table with six points.
After Yashasvi Jaiswal hammered a sensational 77 not out off 32 balls, smashing 10 boundaries and four sixes, to help Rajasthan Royals post a mammoth 150/3, the bowlers took over as they reduced Mumbai Indians for 46/5 in the fifth over, sending back Ryan Rickelton, Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and HardikPandya for single digit scores in the match, which was delayed by two-and-a-half hours because of rain. Mi failed to recover from the top-order collapse and slumped to their second successive defeat as Rajasthan bowlers did well, mixing up their deliveries.
Chasing a massive target of 151, the Mumbai Indians succumbed to scoreboard pressure as they lost Ryan Rickelton (8), who hammered a six on the previous delivery, off the last ball of the first over, the South African opener miscuing Jofra Archer a mile high and was pouched by keeper Dhruv Jurel in the short third region. Suryakumar Yadav (6) paddled Nandre Burger to six of the second ball he faced and fell a legal delivery later, hitting straight down the throat of Jofra Archer at deep backward square leg as Mumbai slumped to 20/2.
Sandeep Sharma pushed Mumbai Indians further into the abyss when he pinned Rohit Sharma on the crease for a plumb lbw decision, upheld by DRS, as the five-time champions were reduced to 22/3 in the third over. Sandeep got Rohit for the sixth time in IPL.
With the Mumbai Indians needing 126 for 46 balls, Tilak Varma struck Tushar Deshpande for a four, as did skipper Hardik Pandya, as they scored 11 runs off the fourth over. Pandya (9) struck Ravi Bishnoi for a four and then slapped the next one straight to Jaiswal at long-on, and MI were down to 41/4. Tilak Varma smashed straight into the hands of Shimron Hetmyer at deep mid-wicket, getting out for 14 off 10 balls — MI down to 46/5.
Naman Dhir whacked Sandeep Sharma over cow corner for a six and an edged four, scoring 14 runs off the sixth over, leaving the Mumbai Indians needing 91 from 30 balls. Sherfane Rutherford hit Bishnoi for boundaries off successive balls and a couple of huge sixes off Deshpande before slicing hard to short-third, where Sandeep Sharma picks a sensational catch, inches above the ground, diving forward. That ended Mumbai’s fight, and they ended at 123/9 in 11 overs, slumping to their second successive defeat.
Asked to bat first, Rajasthan Royals were off to a blistering start as Yashasvi Jaiswal hammered four boundaries and a six to score 22 runs off the first over bowled by Deepak Chahar, who bowled a couple of loose deliveries, attempting to get the ball to swing.
The much-anticipated face-off between the 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Jasprit Bumrah went in favour of the teenager as he whipped the seasoned pacer for two sixes — one over mid-on and the other over deep square leg as Rajasthan Royals blasted 14 runs from the second over.
Jaiswal welcomed Trent Boult with sixes off his first two balls, as the bowler strayed onto the pads on the first delivery and went down outside off on the next. A single later, Sooryavanshi hammered a big one, picking a shortish delivery off his pads to plant it into the stands over deep backward square leg as RR blazed to fifty in just 16 balls.
Hardik Pandya, who returned to playing XI after missing the last match, bowled a fine over and conceded only four runs in the fourth over, but the caning of the bowlers continued as Shardul Thakur’s first ball was thrashed out of the ground by Sooryavanshi. He followed the six with a four off the second and another six off the fifth ball. However, Thakur had the last laugh as he had Sooryavanshi caught by Tilak Varma, a few feet before the boundary rope, timing his jump to perfection. Sooryavanshi smashed 39 off 14 balls, hitting one four and five sixes.
Dhruv Jurel (2) survived only three balls, trapped lbw by Ghazanfar with one that skidded and rapped the batter on the back pad as RR dropped to 84/2. Jaiswal continued batting in fourth gear, putting on display brilliant power-hitting as he blazed to his half-century off 23 balls with a four off a short and wide one by Pandya. He celebrated the milestone with a six off the first ball of the ninth over, bowled by Ghazanfar.
Skipper Riyan Parag struck a six each off Pandya and Ghazanfar before holing out to Tilak Varma near the long-on fence, returning to the dugout after a 10-ball 20, studded with one four and two sixes. Jaiswal struck Bumrah for a six in the 10th over as the left-handed opener remained unbeaten with 77. Ghazanfar was the best MI bowler with 2-21 in two overs.
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