Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians by eight wickets as they made light work of their chase to win the game with four balls to spare in Dubai on Sunday. In the process, they get to 10 points and stay in contention for the playoffs with two games to go. Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians lost their fourth game but still stays at the top of the points table. More about the RR vs MI match report in detail below.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to bat first. They got a cautious start from their top-order with Suryakumar Yadav’s 35 and Ishan Kishan’s 36. Hardik Pandya then provided them a powerful finish scoring an unbeaten 60 off 21 balls to take them to 195/5 after their 20 overs. Shreyas Gopal and Jofra Archer took two each for the Royals. One of Gopal’s wickets was Pollard who failed to read his faster one. It looked at the halfway point that they had enough on the board.
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Rajasthan Royals Topple Mumbai Indians in a High-Scoring Encounter
However, Ben Stokes (107 off 60) and Sanju Samson (54 off 31) made light work of the chase and finished the game with four balls to spare. The duo added 152 runs in just over 15 overs to give the Royals an important win in the context of the competition. It was Stokes’ second IPL ton having hit his first one for Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017. Sanju scored a fifty after the second game against KXIP in Sharjah where he hit 85 in 42 balls in a winning cause. The MI pace trio went for plenty as both Stokes and Samson enjoyed the pace coming onto the ball. They also attacked both the spinners as they hit a total of 18 fours and six sixes in between themselves.This win keeps the Royal in the hunt for the playoffs big time with their next two games against KXIP and KKR.
What Was the Turning Point In the Game?
From being 44 for 2 in the fifth over, the unbeaten 152 run stand between Stokes and Samson proved to be the turning point in the game. It was a chanceless innings from the two who are back in form in the knick of time for the Royals.
Stokes for his second IPL ton and a matchwinning innings was chosen as the Man of the Match.
“It’s always nice to get back to form. We needed a result from today, so – it’s a good victory. Training yesterday was the best I have had for the full time I have been here. Came into the game with a lot more confidence than the other games. Nice to spend some time out in the middle and finish the game off” said the best all-rounder in the world.
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