Rajasthan Royals put on a terrific all-round show as they beat Hardik Pandya’s Mumbai Indians convincingly by six wickets to register their third straight victory of the season during their IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Monday.
Riyan Parag’s classy 54 was just the innings the Royals needed chasing a paltry 126 for victory as they reached 127/4 in 15.3 overs consigning the home side to their third straight loss of the season and first home defeat.
Earlier, the beleaguered Mumbai Indians were wrecked by a tremendous bowling performance by Yuzvendra Chahal and Trent Boult as they put on an insipid batting performance in front of a teeming Wankhede.
The home side posted a meagre 125/9 in 20 overs with the under-pressure skipper Hardik Pandya and the talented Tilak Varma being the only two batters who put up a semblance of resistance with their fifth-wicket partnership of 56 runs.
Pandya was the top scorer with his 34 while Varma struck 32 as the MI fans who turned up in large numbers were in despair with the Royals giving their team a torrid time.
Yuzvendra Chahal (3/11) and Trent Boult (3/22) came up with a stellar bowling effort to rock the Mumbai Indians giving them no breathing space to counter-attack.
Trent Boult's fiery start against Mumbai Indians' top-order:
Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and Impact Player Dewald Brevis were all goners for first ball ducks as Mumbai had a horror start. Rohit and Dhir were out off the fifth and sixth ball of the first over to Boult.
Impact player Dewald Brevis came on in the second over. Ishan Kishan slammed a six off Nandre Burger off the first ball to get the fans going in their opening home game of the season.
The Impact Player was out for a first ball duck unable to make any impact whatsoever as the Mumbai Indians were in all sorts of trouble at 16/3. When Kishan was out for 17 after offering a touch of resistance caught behind off Burger’s bowling, it was looking all downhill for MI at 20/4.
Tilak Varma was dropped on 12 by Yuzvendra Chahal off Boult’s bowling as the home team chugged along shakily. Pandya was taking on the Royals’ bowlers cracking three fours in nine balls scoring 16 runs after the end of six overs.
Mumbai Indians were able to offer some resistance with the fifth-wicket pair of Pandya and Varma putting on a partnership of 39 off 21 balls at the seven over mark.
The home side were at 59/4 after seven overs when the strategic time out was taken. The 50-run partnership came up in 32 balls in 35 minutes in 8.5 overs as Pandya and Varma looked to consolidate Mumbai Indians’ position.
The skipper was out caught at long on by substitute Rovman Powell off Chahal on the third ball of the ninth over as MI slipped to 76/5.
Piyush Chawla was snapped up by Shimron Hetmyer, who took a stunning catch at point, off Avesh Khan’s bowling. Tilak Varma departed for 34 caught by Ravichandran Ashwin off Chahal as a pall of gloom descended at the Wankhede with MI slumping to 95/7.
The Mumbai Indians were looking at an under-150 kind of score struggling at 100/7 in the 14.4 overs. Gerald Coetzee was out for 4 as he holed out to Hetmyer at cover as Mumbai Indians were on the verge of being bowled out.
