IPL 2020
Ben Stokes, Samson Pulled Off A Comprehensive Win For RR Over MI
By CricShots - Oct 26, 2020 12:31 am
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The 45th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) brought out contrasting fortunes for the Mumbai Indians (MI) as well as the Rajasthan Royals (RR). The latter was almost playing a do-or-die game and they needed their top guns to fire and Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson didn’t disappoint as they smashed the MI bowlers from the word go. It was once again Kieron Pollard was leading the MI squad in the absence of injured Rohit Sharma.

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Jofra Archer bowled a fiery opening spell

Choosing to bat first, MI was sent on a backfoot by Jofra Archer, who castled the in-form Quinton de Kock with a ripper of delivery. Jolted by early dismissal, Mumbai made a comeback owing to a solid partnership between Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav as they added 86 runs. However, just when Kishan (37 off 36) started to shift gears, a one-handed blinder by Archer at third-man undid him. A couple of overs later, Yadav (40 from 26)was dismissed by Shreyas Gopal. 

WATCH – Jofra Archer Pulled off The Catch Of The Tournament Against MI

Gopal also got the prized wicket of Kieron Pollard cheaply in the same over, it seemed that MI would undergo a collapse. Although, Hardik Pandya had some belligerent plans. At the 16-over mark, MI was 121/4. After 20, they reached 194, thanks to some insane hitting by Pandya, who smoked Ankit Rajput and Kartik Tyagi for 27 runs apiece in the 18th and the 20th over.

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Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson

Chasing a huge target of 195 wasn’t going to be an easy task and RR suffered an early blow in form of Robin Uthappa (13 from 11) being dismissed cheaply by James Pattison. His wicket also followed the dismissal of the skipper, whereas Steven Smith (11 from 8), who was cleaned up by Pattinson in the fifth over.

RR’s stubbornness with Stokes (107 off 60) finally paid off for them as the English all-rounder smashed a dominating century against the star-studded bowling attack of MI with ridiculous ease. He was well assisted by Sanju Samson (54 off 31), who was hungry to score runs for his team. 

ALSO READ: Match 45 (RCB vs CSK) – Hits And Flops Of The Game

Both the batsmen batted sensibly and made sure that the required run-rate never get outside their reach. After a fiery opening spell, Pattinson was battered by Stokes and Samson for 18 runs in the 13th over that led to a complete change in momentum. While increasing the momentum, the duo added 19, 13, and 15 runs in the next three overs. After a 28-ball half-century from Stokes, Samson brought up his fifty in 27 balls when RR was left to score merely 24 of the last four and they finished the job with 10 balls to spare.

Here’s how Twitter reacted RR’s comprehensive win:

Tags Ben StokesiplIPL 2020jofra archerMatch 45RR vs MISanju SamsonTwitter Reactions

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