#Buttler played another gusty inning which took #RR home comfortably against #MI.
Jos Buttler has been on a roll since 5 games for the Double R’s now. He has stayed unbeaten till the end to see his team through.
His gusty knock took Rajasthan Royals home. Yesterday Wankhede stadium went into shock mode to see their home team lose so miserably.
MI – Mumbai Indians started off well in this match, RR won the toss and opted to bowl first.
The MI openers were in good nick, Surya Kumar Yadav and Evin Lewis started off briskly for the Mumbai team.
Surya Kumar and Evin Lewis added 87 runs for the 1st first wicket.
This opening stand put RR on the back foot, as MI openers played the first 10 overs very well.
After the timeout the game changed, RR fought back nicely. They picked up Surya Kumar Yadav who failed to convert another good start.
But Mumbai Indians got twin blows in the 10th over, Surya Kumar Yadav and Skipper Rohit Sharma were dismissed by Jofra Archer.
Surya Kumar was dismissed on short delivery which he didn’t pull it well. He caught by Unadkat at the fine leg region. Surya Kumar was dismissed for 38 runs.
On the next ball of the same over, Archer bowled a bouncer which Rohit Sharma didn’t pull well. He has failed to score against the Double R’s on two occasions, this time also he didn’t open his account.
After these two big wickets, it was all important that Evin Lewis stayed for MI. But he chose to disappoint.
He played well for his 60 runs but when the time was tough, Lewis was out early.
Lewis was picked up by ex Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni. It was a delivery which was angled towards the off stumps and Lewis sliced it straight towards the sweeper cover region.
After a decent start, suddenly MI was in the back foot for that 3 wickets fell quickly.
After this Mumbai lost the momentum and lost the wickets quickly.
Krunal Pandya also failed to bat well, he was out sooner than expected. He managed only 3 runs.
Then the innings was revived by his brother Hardik Pandya who played till the last ball of the last over.
Hardik Pandya has been scoring runs for MI, his 36 runs were useful in the context of the game.
He was the last man to be dismissed from the Mumbai Indians side. He was out on the ball of the last over.
Due to Hardik Pandya’s crucial innings, Mumbai Indians managed to score just 168 runs in their allotted 20 overs.
RR bowlers were good, they made a brilliant comeback and picked up the wickets at regular intervals.
Jofra Archer was brilliant once again for Rajasthan Royals, he picked up 2 wickets and with him, Ben Stokes also took 2 wickets.
Dhawal Kulkarni and Jaydev Unadkat also took 1 wicket each to their name.
Chasing 169 runs for victory Rajasthan Royals innings fumbled again a bit.
But Royal Buttler was there again to guide his team through a win.
D Arcy Shot was brought back as an opener but he continued his poor run in this IPL season. He was out for just 4 runs.
Then the match-winning partnership between skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler took RR closer to the target.
It was good for RR that Skipper Rahane came back in form, but he couldn’t stay till the end like his mate Buttler.
Skipper Rahane was dismissed by Hardik Pandya for 37 runs.
Mumbai broke this partnership of 95 runs and made their way back into the contest.
This was made interesting as both the teams were in a position of winning the match.
But RR had Jos Buttler who was in smoking form, he smashed his fifth fifty and equaled the record of Virender Sehwag.
Butter built another partnership which took RR closer to the target.
Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler added 39 runs which took RR towards the 165 run mark.
When Rajasthan Royals were just 3 short of the target Samson was dismissed by Hardik Pandya for 26 runs.
But Buttler took RR home without any further damage. He was unbeaten on gusty 94 runs in this chase.
Rajasthan Royals won the match by 7 wickets and 2 overs to spare.
Mumbai Indians didn’t score that many runs to defend, their bowlers tried hard but that was not enough for Rohit and his boys.
Hardik Pandya was the pick of the bowlers for MI.
Man of the match was awarded to Jos Buttler one again, he played a marvelous inning to seal this match single-handedly.
