Rajasthan Royals continued their lean patch in the IPL 2021 after suffering yet another defeat in the tournament against Mumbai Indians on Thursday in Delhi. Chasing 172, MI went over the line by 7 wickets and with 9 balls to spare.
Captain Rohit Sharma and his opening partners Quinton de Kock gave Mumbai a steady start and put up 49 on the board before Rohit departed for 14 off 17.
De Kock carried on with his run flow and notched up an unbeaten 70 off 50 that included two maximums and 6 boundaries to anchor the side to the win.
MI were 83/2 when Krunal Pandya joined the South African wicket-keeper batsman in the middle. The two stitched a vital stand of 63 runs before Krunal played an outside off stump delivery from Mustafizur Rahim on to hi stumps for 39 off 26. But the damage had been done till then as MI were clear favourite now.
Quinton along with Kieron Pollard took the team to victory.
Earlier, Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal started off the proceedings well for RR as the two put 66 for the first wicket before Buttler departed for 41 off 32.
Jaiswal was the second wicket to go down after he was sent back in the hut by Rahul Chahar for 32 off 20. Captain Sanju Samson who came in at number three took on the MI bowling attack and scored a brisk 42 off 27 before Trent Boult cleaned him up but Shivam Dube’s slow scoring-rate didn’t let RR take the super hand and they eventually ended the innings at 171/4 in 20 overs.
Mumbai Indians are now sitting at the number 4 in the points table while the Royals are at seventh spot.
Captains’ corner
RR captain Sanju Samson admitted that the team fell short of some 20-25 run at the end that cost them the match. Surely, a few runs short, maybe around 20-25 runs short. We were going on nicely (with the bat), but didn't finish well. The bowlers have been doing their job well, but as batsmen, we need to get them a good score to defend. It was a good wicket, the ball was coming on nicely and they (MI) batted really well, as a team, we will need to score more runs as a batting group. Trust yourself, play positive and fearless cricket - that's all one should do,” he said.
MI were back with their winning ways in this match after suffering a couple of defeats. Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma hailed his team’s efforts and said that the players probably did everything right.
“We needed to win badly after a couple of losses. We did everything right today, right from ball one, and very clinical towards the end as well. Individuals took the responsibilities that were given to them, it was a collective effort. Guys were positive as they got to know we were going to Delhi, because it was a good pitch, not like Chennai! I thought the bowlers did the job for us. In the last 7 overs we gave around 50 runs with 7 seven wickets in hand for them. Playing the conditions is very important. We knew that we're going to play on good pitches after Chennai. We didn't adapt well as a team there, but having said, it looks like from here on the pitch will suit us. There's a lot of discussion that happens around us, because there's a way we want to play. It's very easy to go down when we know they're 110 in 12 overs, it's very easy to lose confidence. But we stuck to our plans. Very happy with Quinny's knock, we know how good he can be. Not to forget Krunal's innings as well,” he said.
Experts’ opinion
Commentator Harsha Bhogle pointed out the importance of this win for MI while also lavishing praise on Quinton de Kock for getting among runs finally.
Journalist Ayaz Memon also talked about how badly MI needed this win.
Former cricketer S. Badrinath had earlier questioned Rohit’s decision of dropping Ishan Kishan and playing an extra bowler. But later on the right-handed batsman put his weight behind the decision.
MI will now play CSK in Delhi on Saturday while RR will be up against SRH at the same venue.