Out of Sharjah doesn’t seem to be fitting Rajasthan Royals as the team has now lost three games in a row after winning their first two games that were held in the city of the ‘Desert Storm’. In all the three games, the top order of the Rajasthan team has looked palpable. While in the last two games neither of the three- Jos Buttler, Steve Smith, and Sanju Samson did anything special, In this one, Buttler at least tried to salvage some pride after hitting 70 of the total 136 runs that the team put up on the board.
Having folded for 136, the ‘Halla Bol’ unit suffered yet another defeat by a huge margin of 57 runs in Abu Dhabi.
For Mumbai, they found yet another new hero in the form of Suryakumar Yadav. The Mumbai Ranji captain finally showed why he is rated so highly in the domestic scene as he hit his best ever IPL score, making 79 off just 47 balls as he remained not out till the end.
The match was full of moments that were pleasing to the eyes, especially the two catches by Kieron Pollard and Anukul Roy of Mumbai Indians. But there were still more moving elements of the game which make it to the list of ‘Hits and Flops’ segment of the match.
One of the best T20 batsmen in the Indian domestic circuit currently, Yadav showed today why he is considered so. With grit and determination to overthrow any challenge, the Mumbaikar not only fought back a concussion, hitting the very next ball for a six, showing the kind of mettle he is made up of.
Scoring a brilliant 79* off 47 balls, which included 11 boundaries and two sixes, Yadav took Mumbai to a total which was more than just a winning one. After losing two quick wickets in Quinton de Kock and Ishan Kishan, the 30-year-old tried building a partnership with Senior of the Pandyas, Krunal, but that was not long-lived as Krunal Pandya lost his wicket to Jofra Archer.
Post that wicket Surya got aggressive and so did Hardik as the duo added 76 runs in the last six overs. For his performance, Yadav was adjudged Man of the Match.
If it was Surya with the bat, Bumrah to decided to join the party with the ball as he bagged the best figures of this season so far, returning with 4/20 in his entire quota of four overs. Bumrah removed the opposition skipper Steve Smith in the first spell, danger man Rahul Tewatia in the second, and tail-enders Jofra Archer Shreyas Gopal.
Taking wickets at regular interval also made him the Dream XI ‘game-changer’ of the match award.
Rajasthan’s only bright point in the game, Buttler finally hit form in the IPL as he scored a brilli8ant 70 off 44 balls in a losing cause. His score was more than 50% of the team’s total score. Starting off in an attacking mode, Buttler just kept on going while wickets fell on the other end.
In his innings, the Englishman hit four fours and five sixes. In the post-match talk, Buttler said that he still hasn’t given the best with the bat. His supporters would obviously like to hit the best form as soon as possible.
Just like the team’s fortune, Steve Smith, the captain’s batting abilities also seem to have dropped. In another failure, he got out of just six runs off seven balls, giving Bumrah his first wicket of the day. Prior to this game as well, the same issue arrived as his feet didn’t move leading to an outside edge, simply held by the keeper.
In captaincy too, Smith faltered once again as he was not able to make Tewatia complete his spell, even after bowling with an economy as low as 6.5.
The tag of Mr. Inconsistent seems to be paying its worth on Sanju Samson’s profile as after scoring two beautiful knocks at Sharjah, he ended up scoring in single digit in the next three meets. Today he couldn’t even open his account getting caught by Rohit on the bowling of Shreyas Gopal’s ball.
Having scored brilliant innings of 85 and 74, expectations were high off Samson, but until now he hasn’t been able to repay the faith that owners have showed in hi.
With this victory, Mumbai has regained its place at the top of the table, while Rajasthan is still hungry to find its first win outside Sharjah.
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