Rajasthan Royals became the second team to be eliminated from the Indian Premier League playoffs race after Chennai Super Kings when the Riyan Parag-led side was defeated by the Mumbai Indians by 100 runs. Chasing a steep 217 runs set by MI, Rajasthan had a rough start losing match’s centurion Vaibhav Suryavanshi for a duck as he was sent back by Deepak Chahar.
They then lost Yashasvi Jaiswal for 13 to Trent Boult before Parag and Nitish Rana were sent back to the hut in back to back overs by Boult and Jasprit Bumrah respectively. Bumrah struck in the same over in which he sent by Parag by snapping up the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer for a duck as RR went 5 down inside powerplay.
Shubham Dubey (15) and Dhruv Jurel (11) couldn’t add much to the scoreboard either as Hardik Pandya and Karn Sharma accounted for their wickets. Maheesh Theekshana (2) was the next man to go while Kumar Kartikeya went for 2 as Karn sent both of them back. Boult would take the last man in Jofra Archer and finished with 3 wickets as RR wrapped their innings up for 117 runs.
Earlier, Openers Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton struck sublime half-centuries to power Mumbai Indians to 217 for two in their Indian Premier League game against Rajasthan Royals.
Expecting heavy dew, Royals put the opposition in but Rohit (53 off 36 balls) and Rickelton (61 off 38) put the home team under pressure with a sizzling display of clean hitting. In their 116-run stand, Rickelton targeted the quick bowlers while Rohit went after spinners especially Maheesh Theekshana, who was introduced as early as third over.
Suryakumar Yadav (48 not out off 23) and skipper Hardik Pandya (48 not out off 23) capitalised on the openers’ good work to take the team past 200. Jofra Archer bowled a tight first over but the Mumbai openers collected 18 runs off his second. Notwithstanding the express pace of Archer, Rohit made room to cut the England pacer for a four before Rickleton pulled him for a six over mid-wicket. The standout stroke of Rickelton’s innings was the nonchalant flick off Fazalhaq Farooqi that went all the way.
Mumbai Indians cruised to 58 for no loss in the powerplay after Rohit dispatched Maheesh Theekshana for back-to-back fours over mid-off. The lofted drive over extra cover from Rohit off Akash Madhwal oozed class. Left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya offered a half tracker to Rickelton and he duly dismissed it off his presence for a six and a well-deserved half-century. Rohit, who did not start the tournament well, is back to his best. He hit a wide delivery from Theekshna over backward point to complete his fifty.
