Rajasthan Royals defeated Mumbai Indians by 4 wickets. (BCCI/IPL)Rajasthan Royals defeated Mumbai Indians by four wickets in yet another last over finish at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Put into bat first, Mumbai Indians scored 187/five powered by Quinton de Kock’s 81 off 52 balls. In reply, Rajasthan Royals, riding on Jos Buttler 89, chased down the target with just three balls to spare.
This #RajasthanRoyals is built on the pillars of Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer. They need support. See the difference Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Gopal’s performances made today
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) 13 April 2019
Toss: Rajasthan won the toss and put Mumbai in to bat first. Rohit Sharma returned to the side in place of Siddhesh Lad. Rajasthan made two changes in Liam Livingstone in place of injured Ben Stokes while Krishnappa Gowtham replaced Riyan Parag.
First innings: Batting first, Mumbai got off to a belligerent start. The opening stand of 96 between de Kock and Sharma set up the platform for a big score. De Kock was the wrecker-in-chief as he hammered six fours and four sixes in his 52-ball knock and got able support from skipper Rohit Sharma (47 off 32 balls). A late cameo from Hardik Pandya (28 off 11 balls), in which smashed three sixes and one four ensured Mumbai neared the 190-run mark. However, it always felt that Mumbai were 10 to 15 runs short on a surface which would be good for batting.
Meanwhile, for Rohit Sharma, it was his 100th match as captain for Mumbai Indians (including the now-defunct Champions League T20 games) and it was Mumbai’s overall 200th match.
Second innings: Jos Buttler laid the platform with a rampaging 89 while Shreyas Gopal held his nerve at the death to help his side cross the finishing line. This was Royals’ second victory of the season in seven games after losing a last-ball thriller to CSK less than 48 hours back.
Gamechanger: Jos Buttler’s 89 off 43 was the gamechanger of the match. Buttler first forged a 60-run opening stand with skipper Ajinkya Rahane to lay the foundation and then added 87 runs for the second wicket with Sanju Samson. Buttler initially played second fiddle to Rahane but then upped his ante once skipper was gone. The Englishman in the eighth over hit Rahul Chahar for a six, and then in next over, smashed two sixes off Krunal Pandya as he raced to 50 off 29 balls.
Scorecard:
Mumbai Indians- 187 for 5 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 81; Jofra Archer 3/39).
Rajasthan Royals- 188 for 6 in 19.3 overs (Jos Buttler 89; Krunal Pandya 3/34).
(With inputs from PTI)
