#rrvmi

Rajasthan Royals  continued to  their terrific  run at their fortress  Jaipur as  they routed five- time winners Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets in a Tata IPL  2024 encounter.

Earlier,  Mumbai Indians Skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bat first . Trent Boult showed why is the best bowler in power plays and the most consistent in taking wickets in first over.

After getting Rohit Sharma off the fifth ball in the first over in the previous clash at Wankhede, Boult got Rohit again on the fifth ball in the first over for 6  in Jaipur . On both occasions he  was caught by RR Skipper Sanju Samson.  MI were joled early. Then Ishan Kishan too was out cheaply for 0. MI 6/ 2 .  in- form Suryakumar Yadav was next dismissed for 10. MI struggling  at 20/ 3 .

But the repair was done by  Mohammad Nabi who scored  a quick 23 ( 17 balls , 2 fours, 1 six) and Tilak Varma who scored a brilliant 65  ( 45   balls ,  5 fours , 3 sixes).  Nehal Wadhera coming ahead of MI skipper Hardik Pndya  surprised many. But the  young  batsmen excelled.  V Nehal Wadhera was unlucky not get to his fifty out for 49  ( 24 balls, 3 fours, 4 sixes) . It lifted MI innings considerably . MI power hitters were given the stage by Tilak C Varma to explode but they flopped.

MI Skipper Hardik Pandya’s flop run with the bat continued out for 10. Time David was out  for 3  . MI who looked at one stage nearing 200 were struggling . Flurry of wickets towards the end dented their chances and MI could manage  179/ 9 in their 20 overs.

For RR , Sandeep Sharma was outstanding with superb figures of 5/ 18 ( 4 overs) , Trent Boult  2/ 32 ( 4 overs), Avesh Khan was expensive 1/ 49 ( 4 overs), Yuzvendra Chahal picked his 200th IPL wicket 1/ 48 ( 4 overs), Ravichandran Ashwin 0/ 31 ( 4 overs)

In Reply RR , got off to a flier  with openers  in- form  Jos Buttler and  Yashasvi Jaiswal. The duo  smashed the MI bowlers  in the power play  racing to  61/ 0 in 6 overs.   Buttler looked set for big one before he was foxed by  Piyush Chawla for 35 ( 25 balls, 6 fours). RR total 74/ 1  in 8 overs .

Yashasvi Jaiswal who had a terrific Test series against England coming  into Tata IPL  2024  , finally blasted his way back to form with  a superb   104 not out  ( 60 balls, 9 fours, 7 sixes)  and along  with  RR Skipper Sanju Samson  38  not out  ( 28 balls , 2 fours , 2 sixes)    frustrated MI   as they  stitched  together   a match- winning partnership.

The duo  put on  105 run(s) in 64 ball(s).  RR finishing  at 183/ 1  in 18.4 overs . The chase by RR was solid one  with no hiccups,

MI were let down by poor bowling and average fielding with many miss fields and dropped catches adding to their woes .

Mumbai Indian bowling  figures :  Hardik Pandya 0/ 21 ( 2 overs) was wayward. Jasprit Bumrah 0/ 37 ( 4 overs) rare wicketless outing.  Nuwan Thushara 0/ 28 ( 3 overs), Gerald Coetzee 0/ 25 ( 2 overs), Mohammad Nabi 0/ 30 ( 3 overs) , Piyush Chawla 1/ 33 ( 4 overs) , Tilak Varma 0/8 ( 0.4 overs)

RR Impact Player: Jos Buttler replaces Yuzvendra Chahal

MI Impact Player: Nuwan Thushara replaces Suryakumar Yadav

Who will Win?

Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians