Rajasthan Royals defeated Mumbai Indians by 3 wickets in the 21st match of IPL 2018 played at Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur just finished a few minutes ago. It was a thrilling match as good knocks from Ishan Kishan and Surya Kumar Yadav helped MI to post 167 for 7. Chasing 168, Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes partnership, quick-fire knock by K Gowtham helped RR win a thriller.
Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. Rajasthan Royals got off to a great start taking the wicket of dangerous Evin Lewis in the very first over for 0. Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan steadied the innings with good positive strokeplay. At the end of 6 overs, Mumbai Indians scored 43 runs for 1 wicket.
After the power play overs, both batsmen attacked the Rajasthan Royals bowlers to all parts of the ground with aggressive hitting. Surya Kumar Yadav reached his half-century off 29 balls while Ishan Kishan reached his half-century off 35 balls. It was a great batting display by both batsmen. The wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan was dismissed for 58 runs. Both of them added 129 runs for the 2nd wicket.
Surya Kumar Yadav too was dismissed for 72 off 47 balls. After that Rajasthan Royals pecked the Mumbai Indians batting line-up quick wickets. Kieron Pollard remained not out on 21 off 20 balls. Mumbai Indians posted 167 for 7 in 20 overs.
For Rajasthan Royals, Jofra Archer who was playing his first match of IPL, took 3 wickets for 22 runs and created pressure on Mumbai Indians batting line up with his Yorkers. He dismissed Krunal Pandya, Hardik Pandya and Mitchell McClenaghan in one over.
Chasing 168, Rahul Tripathi who came to open the innings was dismissed in the 3rd over for 9 runs. Rajasthan Royals captain Rahane could only score 14 runs. At the end of 6 overs, Rajasthan Royals scored 43 for 2.
After the power play overs, Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes played with positive intent putting pressure on Mumbai Indians bowling line up. Both of them added 72 runs for the 3rd wicket. Hardik Pandya dismissed the dangerous Ben Stokes for 40 runs.
The young Sanju Samson continued his brilliant form with his second half-century off IPL 2018. He reached his 50 off 36 balls. Soon after, Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Sanju Samson for 52 runs. Next ball, Jasprit Bumrah struck dismissing Jos Buttler for 6.
Mustafizur Rahaman dismissed Henrich Klassen for 0. With 45 runs needed off 3 overs, Gowtham smashed Jasprit Bumrah for 18 runs in the 19th over. Both Archer and Gowtham added 33 runs for the 7th wicket in quick time.
Krishnappa Gowtham smashed a boundary and six off Hardik Pandya’s bowling to give Rajasthan Royals a 3 wicket win with 2 balls to spare. Gowtham remained not out on 33 off 11 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes.
RR 168 for 7 in 19.4 overs ( Sanju Samson 52, Ben Stokes 40, Gowtham 33*, Jasprit Bumrah 2/28) beat
MI 167 for 7 in 20 overs ( Surya Kumar Yadav 72, Ishan Kishan 58, Jofra Archer 3/22) by 3 wickets.
MI captain Rohit Sharma said: Not easy to digest the losses. It was not easy to score 10 per over on this surface. We did not captailze on the starts we got. This is the second or third time we have done in IPL 2018 so far. The batting team could have 20 more runs which would have been enough.
RR captain Rahane said: The bowlers did a brilliant job to restrict Mumbai Indians to just 167 after the start they got. Jofra Archer made his debut and bowled an impressive spell taking 3 wickets. Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes played well. K Gowtham played a gem of knock and took us to a great victory.
Man of the match Jofra Archer: Its good to be back on the park. They were going great guns and wanted to restrict them to a respectable total. The chase was tensed, but Gowtham was brilliant in the death and helped us for chasing 168 runs. We have the talent to put pressure on other teams and want to continue the momentum.
Rajasthan Royals won their 3rd match of the season with 6 points.
Delhi Daredevils will take on Kings XI Punjab at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi in tomorrow’s match.
