In the 51st match of the VIVO IPL 2021, Mumbai Indians beat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets. Following this victory, MI acquired the fifth spot with 12 points replacing Punjab Kings in the points table.
Things went Mumbai Indians’ way right from the toss. MI opted to bowl and dominated the Rajasthan-based franchise from the initial overs of the game. The defending champions didn’t let Rajasthan’s batsmen settle in the middle. They managed to take wickets at regular intervals and restricted RR to a below-par total of 90. The five-time IPL champions’ openers looked aggressive in their approach. Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan had a small partnership of 23 before the former was dismissed in the fourth over. Suryakumar Yadav (13) was the number three batsman, he conjured 36 runs for the second wicket with Kishan before he was caught in the circle on Mustafizur Rahaman’s bowling. Hardik Pandya was promoted in the batting line-up as he walked out to bat at number four. The fall of two wickets didn’t bother Kishan as the southpaw kept hammering the Rajasthan bowlers in all corners of the ground. Kishan smashed 24 runs off Chetan Sakariya’s over and took MI closer to the target. In the following over, the opener smashed 10 off the first two deliveries and concluded the chase in style.
Nathan Coulter-Nile was the pick among the bowlers for MI as he pocketed four wickets in his spell. Jimmy Neesham grabbed three while Jasprit Bumrah had two wickets to his name. For RR, Mustafizur Rahman and Chetan Sakariya had one scalp each.
Following this fixture, MI (12) and RR (10) have acquired the fifth and seventh spot respectively.
Scorecard:
Rajasthan Royals: 90/9, Overs 20, Evin Lewis (24), David Miller (15), Nathan Coulter-Nile (4/14)
Mumbai Indians: 94/2, Overs 8.2, Ishan Kishan (50*), Rohit Sharma (22), Mustafizur Rahman (1/32)