Riyan Parag unleashes some aggressive batsmanship to hit Gerald Coetzee for six and take Royals home comfortably, notching his second fifty of the season.
Hardik Pandya received another round of criticism from Mumbai Indians fans tonight after winning three straight games with Royal Bengal Tigers to remain top of their table. In this article, we will discuss the main points of Mumbai Indians Vs Rajasthan Royals Match Scorecard.
MI: 125 for 9
Rajasthan Royals bowled effectively against Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium on Monday to limit them to an unlikely total of 125-9 at Wankhede. Yuzvendra Chahal (3/11) and Trent Boult (3/22) executed an outstanding show, keeping their batsmen at bay while Riyan Parag batted unbeaten for 54 balls to seal victory with 27 balls remaining for Rajasthan Royals.
Mumbai Indians started off the match poorly as they warmed up for their inaugural home match this season in front of their fans, receiving widespread booing as they warmed up on an otherwise favorable pitch. Hardik Pandya received more boos when taking out to take the toss on an advantageous pitch where fielding first would likely win more fans over batting first option.
Things didn’t improve for the hosts in their chase as they suffered a seven-wicket defeat. Three of their top four batsmen fell early as Chahal and Boult ran amok in their respective spells.
Glenn Maxwell was dismissed for a duck by R Ashwin at short midwicket off Chahal and, later in the seventh over, bowler Chahal struck again, this time sending Tilak Varma packing by bowling down an incorrect line and getting caught by wicketkeeper Kishan.
Rohit Sharma became the next victim, when he missed a straight delivery from Boult and was held at short mid-wicket by Sanju Samson for a golden duck. Soon thereafter Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis followed suit – effectively ending any hopes for a comeback by their respective teams.
Tim David and Tilak Varma combined with some powerful hitting to establish a modest fifty-run stand, but ultimately were bowled out for 125 in 20 overs by Chahal’s bowling attack. Mumbai batters struggled as run rates steadily declined until Parag hit some big sixes to help his side reach an achievable target in one final over. His 22-year-old continued his fine form by hitting five fours and three sixes during this matchup against Mumbai on May 7. Parag will certainly be one of their key players when facing them again on May 7!
RR: 165 for 9
The Royals reached 200 with difficulty on this pitch but still produced an excellent total. Though Yashasvi Jaiswal fell early to Reece Topley, Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson came through quickly to bring about an unlikely partnership that resulted in Buttler making his maiden IPL century in just 49 balls while Samson reached fifty off 43 deliveries.
Buttler soon found himself joined by West Indian legend Shimron Hetmyer, and they helped drive Rajasthan towards their target with some powerful hitting from both batsmen. Unfortunately, Hetmyer was eventually caught off Romario Shepherd by Keshav Maharaj but that did not prevent Rajasthan from continuing their strong performance.
Siraj takes over to bowl the penultimate over, beginning with two dots on opening ball before unleashing a fuller delivery towards middle where Hetmyer attempted to flick away but got hit in behind and Dinesh Karthik took an easy catch at short third man. Finally Yash Dayal came on for his final over.
Jos Buttler gets off the mark quickly as RR reach their initial fifty of the game and move closer towards quarter-final qualification. Yash Dayal offers up another full and off side delivery which Jos Buttler easily blocks with his front foot before smashing over mid off for four. That marks their initial fifty of the match.
Buttler then hit three consecutive sixes off two balls to put Royal Rumble (RR) in an advantageous position, but was soon undone by Mohammed Siraj, who struck straight into the ground and sent Buttler tumbling toward fine leg boundary.
Soon thereafter, Siraj struck again to remove Hetmyer for 66 off 54 balls – this wicket proved crucial as Hetmyer was central to RCB’s machine and had been performing exceptionally all evening long.
Yuzvendra Chahal took three wickets and Ravichandran Ashwin two to limit RCB to 171/8 before bowling them out within 15 overs.
The Royals appeared poised to seal off victory, only to be made sweat by an impressive MI team. Dwayne Smith’s half century led MI to a respectable total of 165/6 before they finished off the chase without too many problems.
Rajasthan Royals won four consecutive games to move closer to an IPL semi-final berth and invest in youngsters like Riyan Parag, who has made an immediate impact with his aggressive strokeplay. They will face Delhi Daredevils again in Thursday’s second qualifier matchup – just as they did during 2013 when they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad for the inaugural season and have gone on to dominate both meetings since.
Final Score
As per the latest IPL 2024 scorecard, Mumbai Indians currently sit fifth with eight points while Rajasthan Royals hold third with nine. Tonight at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai the two teams will face off. Kick-off for this match starts at 7.30 PM IST.
Probable XI for Rajasthan Royals includes Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler (Captain and Wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Nehal Wadehera, Gerald Coetzee Dhruv Jurel Trent Boult Yuzvendra Chahal Sandeep Sharma.
The Royals have enjoyed an encouraging start to their campaign and hope to maintain it against MI in this critical game. Their chances will be strengthened further with Sandeep Sharma back from injury who will return into their side in this crucial matchup.
Indian batting performance has been inconsistent so far in this tournament and they must improve if they wish to remain competitive in it. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan have struggled for runs so far and their last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad saw them get bowled out for just 87/10, an unfortunate display by them batting quartet.
Tim David and Hardik Pandya will likely rely on Tim Buttler and Samson stepping up if they wish to post an impressive total. Tim David may need help from Hardik Pandya as captain too in order to post one.
Jaiswal had another dismal start to this IPL, being dismissed at deep square leg by Buttler off Chahal for just four runs from five innings so far this season and needing an aggressive partnership with Buttler quickly to break his run of wicketlessness. This was his sixth dismissal so far and needs a rapid partnership to produce results soon.
Boult and Burger from Rajasthan Royals bowlers had an outstanding powerplay performance against MI in the opening overs, restricting them to 20/3 within 14 overs before Nehal Wadehera and Dhruv Jurel contributed wickets for them. But Tilak Varma showed resilience by smashing three sixes and five fours en route to 65 off 48 balls for MI, supported by Buttler who added 57 runs off 52 deliveries at fourth wicket with him in total for MI’s first innings score of 125-9 from 9 overs in total.
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