Mumbai Indians crush Rajasthan Royals as pacers run riot

High flying Mumbai Indians took on Rajasthan Royals in their sixth match of the Indian Premier League on Tuesday. The Mumbai franchise won the toss and elected to bat first in their encounter against Steve Smith’s men. 

Mumbai Indians started their innings in style with Quinton De Kock and Rohit Sharma adding 49 runs for the first wicket. Suryakumar Yadav was quick to join the party after Kartick Tyagi removed Kock for 23. 

Mumbai Indians’ progress was halted by leg spinner Shreyas Gopal when the 27-year-old removed hard hitter Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan in quick succession.

Jofra Archer removed Krunal Pandya in the fourteenth over to put Mumbai Indians on the back foot.

Krunal Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav steadied the innings for Mumbai following the two quick blows by Rajasthan.

Yadav was in phenomenal form as he unleashed on the Rajasthan Royal bowling attack to help Mumbai Indians post a mammoth total. Yadav scored a quick-fire 79 of 47 balls in an innings that saw him suffer a concussion. Yadav was struck on the head of the bowling of Archer evoking memories of a nasty bouncer that ended Australian cricketer Phil Hughes’ life. The 30-year-old was quick to recover and smashed Archer for a boundary in the very next ball.

Though Rajasthan captain Steve Smith used his bowlers judiciously, the likes of Jofra Archer and Tom Curran took a pounding in the death overs.

Mumbai Indians recovered quickly from the initial set back and courtesy of Suryakumar Yadav’s blistering knock of 79 posted 194 for Rajasthan to win.

Chasing a mammoth total, Rajasthan had a catastrophic start to their innings with youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal departing for a golden duck.

Skipper Steve Smith was also dismissed cheaply of the bowling of Jasprit Bumrah and Sanju Samson departed without troubling the score.

While Lomrar and Buttler tried to steady the innings for Rajasthan Royals, Rahul Chahar dismissed Lomrar for 11.

Jos Buttler put on a one-man for Rajasthan Royals with a stellar knock of 70 from 44 balls. Buttler smacked the star-studded bowling line-up of Mumbai Indians all over the park.

Buttler hit five sixes and four boundaries during the course of his innings but Pollard dismissed him with a howler of a catch of the bowling of James Pattinson. 

With the dismissal of Buttler, Rajasthan’s tail was exposed and Bumrah, Pattison and Boult asserted their dominance by cleaning up the tail. 

In the end, Mumbai picked up a crucial 57 runs victory against the Rajasthan franchise. Mumbai is now at the top of the points table having won three games on the trot. Surya Kumar Yadav was awarded the man-of-the-match award for his exploits with the bat.