IPL 2020: We strive to play with power, says Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma

IPL 2020: Steve Smith fined for over-rate offence against Mumbai Indians

Rajasthan Royals skipper Steve Smith was slapped with a fine of INR 12 lakh for slow over-rate in the game against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, October 6. The Royals took a beating against Rohit Sharma and Co. as they lost by 57 runs. Chasing 194, Royals were bowled out for 136 as the batters failed to fire apart from Jos Buttler. Smith had an off day with the bat; the Australian batter could manage mere six runs and was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah, who claimed four wickets in the game. "As it was his team's first offence of the season under the IPL's Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Mr. Smith was fined Rs 12 lakh," stated an IPL media release. The Royals are currently placed at the seventh spot with four points under their kitty. They face Delhi Capitals next on October 9. Buttler hit his first fifty of the season. A 44-ball 70, courtesy six maximums and four fours kept Royals in the hunt. However, he perished in the 14th over, all thanks to a spectacular catch by veteran Mumbai all-rounder Kieron Pollard. Mumbai are currently sitting at the top of the points table with eight points from six outings.

IPL 2020 | MI vs RR: 3 Reasons Why Mumbai manage clinical victory over Rajasthan

Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians are at the top of the table once again after defeating form-starved Rajasthan Royals in the 20th match of the Indian Premier League on Tuesday, 6 October. It was business as usual for Mumbai in Sharjah with the team firing in all departments and picking up a humongous 57-run victory to maintain their momentum. The pace trio of Jasprit Bumrah, James Pattinson and Trent Boult stood out with the masterful control over the game and substitute fielder Anukual Roy took a blinder of a catch to make people stand and applaud from their homes. While all that happened in the second innings defending the massive 194 run target, earlier Suryakumar Yadav played the best match of his IPL career scoring an astonishing 79 off 47 balls. On that note, here are the three reasons why Mumbai Indians flat-batted the Rajasthan challenge and now are at the top of the Indian Premier League 2020. Suryakumar Yadav Within the first 5 balls of him coming into the crease, Mumbai must have felt that they were in for something special. His first boundary came from an on-drive with Yadav caressing the balls between the mid-on and the short mid-wicket. While runs kept coming, he faced an absolutely awful face height beamer from Jofra Archer that he could barely avoid. Getting hit by a bouncer later on, Yadav’s stood up and replied back with a six off the next delivery. He was the chief architect of the Mumbai innings ably supported by Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya who made important contributions to take the game out of Rajasthan’s reach. Jasprit Bumrah This man is slowly, but surely returning to his prime. After picking up 2 wickets in his last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Jasprit Bumrah produced the best figures of his IPL career tonight picking up 4 wickets for just 20 runs. The MI pace bowling unit picked up a total of 8 wickets on the night and it again came to fore how much planning the Zaheer Khan-led MI thinktank does before coming into every game. Kiwi pacer spoke at the end of the game and said that while he would love to see the ball doing more at the beginning of the innings, but the fact the team is hunting in pack is something satisfying to watch. “I think the whole pack is working together. I think we have a pretty clear game plan. It's a good wicket, but the way we've managed to take wickets [has been good]. You're always challenged with quality players, intimidating you a bit. But I think I'd love to see the ball swing around a little more at the top. Hasn't been a huge feature of this tournament.” Rajasthan top order just cannot catch a break Despite making changes at the Rajasthan Royals’ top order things are not coming together for Steve Smith and his team. The top order has failed for three matches straight and Sanju Samson’s inconsistency debate once again has come to the fore. Smith himself has not spent a lot of time out there in the middle himself spending just 19 balls in his last three matches. With Ben Stokes set to join the team on 10th of this month, Rajasthan have to try and get their campaign back on track against probably the strongest side in this year’s IPL, the Delhi Capitals on Friday, 9 October. Speaking after the game, Smith said that they do not need to panic and rather implement their plans on the field better to get the desired results. He also said that they would like to build some momentum before Stokes comes in. “I don't think we need to panic too much. It's just about implementing our plans and playing good cricket for longer. Hasn't been a good last three games. Need to turn it around and get some momentum.”

IPL 2020 | RR vs MI: Hits and Flops as Jos Buttler’s brilliant innings goes in vain after Surya-Bumrah lead Mumbai to yet another win

Out of Sharjah doesn’t seem to be fitting Rajasthan Royals as the team has now lost three games in a row after winning their first two games that were held in the city of the ‘Desert Storm’. In all the three games, the top order of the Rajasthan team has looked palpable. While in the last two games neither of the three- Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, and Sanju Samson did anything special, In this one, Buttler at least tried to salvage some pride after hitting 70 of the total 136 runs that the team put up on the board. Having folded for 136, the ‘Halla Bol’ unit suffered yet another defeat by a huge margin of 57 runs in Abu Dhabi. For Mumbai, they found yet another new hero in the form of Suryakumar Yadav. The Mumbai Ranji captain finally showed why he is rated so highly in the domestic scene as he hit his best ever IPL score, making 79 off just 47 balls as he remained not out till the end. The match was full of moments that were pleasing to the eyes, especially the two catches by Kieron Pollard and Anukul Roy of Mumbai Indians. But there were still more moving elements of the game which make it to the list of ‘Hits and Flops’ segment of the match. Hits: #1 Suryakumar Yadav One of the best T20 batsmen in the Indian domestic circuit currently, Yadav showed today why he is considered so. With grit and determination to overthrow any challenge, the Mumbaikar not only fought back a concussion, hitting the very next ball for a six, showing the kind of mettle he is made up of. Scoring a brilliant 79* off 47 balls, which included 11 boundaries and two sixes, Yadav took Mumbai to a total which was more than just a winning one. After losing two quick wickets in Quinton de Kock and Ishan Kishan, the 30-year-old tried building a partnership with Senior of the Pandyas, Krunal, but that was not long-lived as Krunal Pandya lost his wicket to Jofra Archer. Post that wicket Surya got aggressive and so did Hardik as the duo added 76 runs in the last six overs. For his performance, Yadav was adjudged Man of the Match. #2 Jasprit Bumrah If it was Surya with the bat, Bumrah to decided to join the party with the ball as he bagged the best figures of this season so far, returning with 4/20 in his entire quota of four overs. Bumrah removed the opposition skipper Steve Smith in the first spell, danger man Rahul Tewatia in the second, and tail-enders Jofra Archer Shreyas Gopal. Taking wickets at regular interval also made him the Dream XI ‘game-changer’ of the match award. #3 Jos Buttler Rajasthan’s only bright point in the game, Buttler finally hit form in the IPL as he scored a brilli8ant 70 off 44 balls in a losing cause. His score was more than 50% of the team’s total score. Starting off in an attacking mode, Buttler just kept on going while wickets fell on the other end. In his innings, the Englishman hit four fours and five sixes. In the post-match talk, Buttler said that he still hasn’t given the best with the bat. His supporters would obviously like to hit the best form as soon as possible. Flops: #1 Steve Smith Just like the team’s fortune, Steve Smith, the captain’s batting abilities also seem to have dropped. In another failure, he got out of just six runs off seven balls, giving Bumrah his first wicket of the day. Prior to this game as well, the same issue arrived as his feet didn’t move leading to an outside edge, simply held by the keeper. In captaincy too, Smith faltered once again as he was not able to make Tewatia complete his spell, even after bowling with an economy as low as 6.5. #2 Sanju Samson The tag of Mr. Inconsistent seems to be paying its worth on Sanju Samson’s profile as after scoring two beautiful knocks at Sharjah, he ended up scoring in single digit in the next three meets. Today he couldn’t even open his account getting caught by Rohit on the bowling of Shreyas Gopal’s ball. Having scored brilliant innings of 85 and 74, expectations were high off Samson, but until now he hasn’t been able to repay the faith that owners have showed in hi. With this victory, Mumbai has regained its place at the top of the table, while Rajasthan is still hungry to find its first win outside Sharjah.

IPL 2020 | RR vs MI: What experts said as Suryakumar Yadav flourishes in Mumbai Indians win

Three in a row is what we can call it as we have had three back-to-back one-sided games in the Indian Premier League (IPL), this one coming courtesy a resounding victory of defending Champions Mumbai Indians against the Rajasthan Royals. Batting first, Rohit Sharma led side had a gala time in Abu Dhabi as they managed to score a more than competitive 193 in the first innings. Suryakumar Yadav in particular was brilliant with the willow as he played the best innings of his IPL career so far, scoring 79 off 47 balls hitting 11 boundaries and two maximums. In the bowling department, ever-reliable Jasprit Bumrah did it for Mumbai once again as he returned with the figures of 4/20 in the game. From Rajasthan’s point of view, Jos Buttler’s return to form was the only positive of the game as he scored 70 off 44 balls. But apart from him, no one else could provide any resistance to the Mumbai attack as the team was all out for 136 in the nineteenth over, handing the opposition a huge 57 run victory. Captains’ Viewpoints: Reacting to the win, Rohit Sharma, Mumbai captain said, “We strive to be out there and play well.” And played well is what his team did. The Mumbaikar further lauded his teammates, calling them exceptionally talented. “We have a lot of quality and it's about getting the job done. They all have a lot of confidence. They're all talented and they can take the game away on their day and it's all falling into place,” he said. “The conditions are helpful here for the quick bowlers. It was nipping around to start with and it's good to have bowlers who can exploit the conditions,” Sharma added praising fast bowlers especially Jasprit Bumrah. Calling fielding as one of the most important ‘controllables’ Rohit said that the team worked hard on that aspect of the game. “We also worked a lot on our fielding, because it's one of the controllables in the game and we made it a point to do that well,” he said. Saying that he and the management wanted Suryakumar to bat through the innings, Rohit was impressed by the senior pro in his side. “A good Surya innings was coming, I spoke to him before the game, and his shot selection was perfect today. We wanted him to bat till the end because he can innovate rather well,” concluded the winning captain. Steven Smith on the other hand had to face back to back three losses as the team hasn’t been able to pick up pace ever since leaving Sharjah. “I think losing wickets early doesn't help, we haven't been able to get off to a good start in the last three games,” Smith said lamenting over the loss of form of his openers,” Smith said. “Outside of Jos and Archer at the end, we have a bit of work to do on our batting,” he added keeping the focus on Rajasthan’s batting woes. Updating about Ben Stokes, the marquee player for this Rajasthan side, Smith said, “He (Stokes) is not out till the 10th I think. He is not too far away; hopefully, we can get a few wins before he's back and then gain momentum.” The 33-year-old further refused to get bogged down by the pressure of losses and said, “I don't think we need to panic too much, it is just about implementing our plans and playing some good cricket for longer.” “We haven't been able to do that in the last three games and we have to turn it around quickly. Hopefully, get a bit of momentum,” he concluded. Expert Opinion: Three of the most talked-about topics among the cricket experts today were Suryakumar, Buttler, and Bumrah. Talking about the game, Boria Majumdar, one of the finest cricket analysts said that with Jos Buttler's coming back in form and Ben Stokes joining the side soon, Royals would be primed to fare much better. Aakash Chopra, the cricketer turned commentator and cricket analyst predicted that with such huge wins, it is going to be a difficult week for some franchises as the gap between the worst and best teams would increase. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar was impressed by the athletic catch that Kieron Pollard took to dismiss Jos Buttler, who at that time was looking more than just dangerous. Harsha Bhogle, one of the finest commentators in any form of the game retracted his status of the last day when he had asked IPL to send the purple cap to Kagiso Rabada. In another tweet, Majumdar pointed out the six that Surya hit after getting hit on the helmet and said that it was one of the most 'defining moments' of the league so far. Vimal Kumar, a senior journalist pointed out the dullness in the league saying that huge wins are becoming a norm, and hence run rate would play a crucial role going ahead in the tournament. After three losses, Rajasthan would look to bounce back when they next play the in-form Delhi Capitals on the 9th of October. On the other hand, Mumbai would look to continue their winning run, which is now three matches strong. The Blue and Gold would have ample time to practice taking on the Delhi Capitals on 11th October.