During the 47th match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Mumbai, Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets to register their sixth win of the tournament.
After Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and put the hosts in to bat, Mumbai Indians scored 169-4 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. They had started their innings in the affirmative, but lost way in the middle overs. Regular fall of wickets and a decreased run rate saw them settling in for a score which they would have surpassed had they not lost way of their innings.
What further did not help their case was Jos Buttler’s match-winning innings, which made his way into the record books. The Indians had an opening when they dismissed D’Arcy Short in the powerplay but post that Buttler and Rahane stitched a 95-run partnership to further have a hold on the match. Rajasthan Royals won the match in 18 overs, scoring 171-3.
Now, we will look at the hits and flops players in this match.
Hits
Evin Lewis (MI) – Opening the batting with Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis played the role of a fulcrum in Mumbai Indians’ innings. Apart from stitching an 87-run opening partnership, he ended up scoring his second IPL half-century, 60 (42), with the help of four fours and four sixes.
Jofra Archer (RR) – Introduced into the attack as the first change bowler, Jofra Archer perhaps bowled the over which changed the course of Mumbai Indians’ innings. In his second over, he dismissed Suryakumar Yadav and Rohit Sharma off consecutive balls. He ended up with bowling figures of 4-0-16-2.
Jos Buttler (RR) – Opening the batting with D’Arcy Short, Jos Buttler became the second batsman (after Virender Sehwag) to score five consecutive half-centuries in the IPL. He also became the second batsman (after Glenn Maxwell) to score three consecutive 80+ scores in the IPL. Adjourned as the ‘Man of the Match’, he remained unbeaten in the chase, scoring 94* (59) with the help of nine fours and five sixes.
Flops
Rohit Sharma (MI) – Tonight was the second time in two matches when Rohit Sharma was dismissed on the first ball against Rajasthan Royals in this season. He being dismissed right after the dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav had made enough way for the Royals to stage a comeback.
D’Arcy Short (RR) – Opening the batting with the in-form Jos Buttler, the maximum Short had to do was spend some time in the middle and more importantly keep playing with Buttler. Short poked at a Jasprit Bumrah delivery to be dismissed in the first over itself for 4 (5).
Jasprit Bumrah (MI) – Opening the bowling for Mumbai Indians, Jasprit Bumrah managed to dismiss Short in the first over itself but what followed was highly unlike him. Defending a 170-run target, Bumrah was expected to stand tall on his reputation. Bowling figures of 3-0-32-1 did not do justice to his potential.
