new Delhi: Jos Buttler’s century was backed by a sensational effort by Rajasthan Royals spinners as they beat Mumbai Indians by 23 runs in their Indian Premier League 2022 match at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai, here on Saturday.
RR’s spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin broke the game as the five-time champions fell short in the end.
Chasing 194 runs, Mumbai Indians did not get off to such a great start as their score was reduced to 50/2 after the powerplay. In the second over, the famous Krishna dismissed Rohit Sharma. The MI skipper cut straight to Riyan Parag, who took a really good catch as the ball went to him from the middle of the bat.
Navdeep Saini dismissed Anmolpreet Singh in the fourth over. The ball stalled a bit off the pitch and Anmolpreet was quick for the shot, which hit Padikkal at extra cover.
The middle overs were better for the MI batsmen as they scored 86 runs for the loss of two wickets. On the last ball of the 13th over, Trent Boult sent the dangerous looking Ishan Kishan back for 54 for 43. Kishan pulls the ball flat and it goes with great speed as Saini takes a brilliant catch at deep square leg.
In the very next over, young player Tilak Verma scored his first half-century in the IPL. MI’s chase was going on at a comfortable pace, with the experienced spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin tipping the pace back in RR’s favour.
Ashwin first dismissed Tilak for 61 and then Chahal hit two fours in the 16th over to send Tim David and Daniel Sams to the pavilion on successive deliveries.
With 39 needed from 12 balls, the famous Krishna scored only 10 runs in the final over. Navdeep Saini then won the match for RR in the last over. Earlier, a scintillating century from Jos Buttler took Rajasthan Royals to 193/8 against Mumbai Indians.
Buttler scored 100 while Shimron Hetmyer and Sanju Samson scored 35 and 30 respectively. Jasprit Bumrah and Tymal Mills took three wickets each for Mumbai Indians.
Elected to bat first, Rajasthan had a poor start and after the powerplay, their score was 48/2. In the third over, Jasprit Bumrah dismissed RR opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and gave Mumbai the first wicket. The MI bowler bowls a good length delivery and gives no room to Jaiswal as the RR batsman tries to flick it and the ball gets to the fielder.
The fourth over was huge for RR as their other opener Buttler turned the tide in his favor by dismissing Basil Thampi for 24. Devdutt Padikkal was dismissed by Tymal Mills on the last ball of the powerplay. Padikkal tried to pull a short ball to end the powerplay on a high note but ended it wrong. In the end, it was an easy catch for MI skipper Rohit Sharma.
The RR batsmen excelled in the middle overs as they accumulated 90 runs (10 RPO) for the loss of just one wicket. Sanju Samson and Buttler formed a valuable partnership, which was undone by Kieron Pollard in the 15th over by removing the RR skipper. Samson misjudges the ball high and then goes into the hands of Tilak Verma in deep mid-wicket.
Shimron Hetmyer then joined Butler and the two started scoring runs for RR. Hetmyer went ballistic in the 17th and 18th overs and got 38 runs for RR. In the last two overs, MI came back and took five wickets to ensure that RR did not reach the mark of 200.