IPL 2021 | RR vs MI: Hits & Flops as huge win boost Mumbai’s hopes of a miraculous comeback

The Mumbai Indians finally showcased why they have been the most successful side in the Indian Premier League after drubbing their opponents Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday night, 5 October. They fought against all odds and just when everyone has counted them out, they put on a show in Sharjah which would be hard to forget for both Rajasthan Royals and also the Mumbai Indians fans, but in different senses altogether. 

The Rohit Sharma-led team defeated Rajasthan by eight wickets as they chased down the target of 91 in just 8.2 overs to make a huge improvement in their net run rate, something that had kept them languishing at the bottom of the table. Now, they are placed at fifth place and have a more than good enough chance of making it to the playoffs with tier last game left to play. 

There were many heroes for Mumbai, but not bigger and brighter than Ishan Kishan, whose comeback to form was soothing, to say the least. But there are many names other than Kishan who would be discussed under Hits and Flops for their performance in this polarising game.

Hits

Ishan Kishan

Given a chance in place of Quinton de Kock to make a comeback after being dropped two matches ago, Ishan Kishan grabbed the opportunity with both hands. He scored a brilliant fifty to grant his team a huge win which was exactly what the doctors had ordered ahead of this game. 

Kishan was slow to start as he played a maiden in the second over even as skipper Sharma on the other end had hit 14 off the first six balls and was looking to up the ante and chase the total as quickly as possible. While the maiden over was not exactly as per the plans of Mumbai, but promoting Kishan to open the innings at least gave him the clarity of the role he was supposed to play. 

With a clear head, he started freeing his arms as soon as Rohit got out and he knew that the attack must be led by him. From 1 off 7 balls, he suddenly went to 21 off 16, hitting fours and twos here and there, by the end of the seventh over.

But it was actually the eight over that changed the game and Kishan’s image in the team and among fans once again. 

When Hardik Panday gave him the strike after taking three runs from the first ball of that Chetan Sakariya over, Kishan started teeing off, he hit a four on the second ball, then got a free hit which he could put away for only two runs, but the subsequent ball was also a no ball and Kishan deposited it almost out of the stadium. Another six on the next ball and a single on the last ball meant that Kishan got the strike for the next over.  

And remember, all of this one a pitch, where people have not been able to time the ball for the better part of the game.

And once he hit a four on the first ball of the over and with three runs required to win, everyone saw the six coming off the bat of Kishan on the next ball, which would also take him to his first fifty of a dismal season until now. 

Nathan Coulter-Nile

Coulter-Nile, another of the Mumbai players who was not a first choice coming into the UAE leg turned out to be a game-changer and probably a season changer for the Mumbai side. The Aussie was the pick of the bowlers in this game with his into the wicket bowling and some very poor shot selection by the Rajasthan batters. 

The 33-year-old got the first breakthrough as he was managed to get a nick off the bat of the last game hero for Rajasthan, youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal. This was also the wicket that opened the floodgates for Rajasthan. 

Post this major injunction, Coulter-Nile came back later in in the innings to remove two of the biggest threats in Glenn Phillips and David Miller. He finished off with the wicket of Sakariya. This performance of his reading 4/14 from the four overs also turned out to be his best IPL figures in a 37 match career. 

Jimmy Neesham

It wasn’t just Coulter-Nile or Ishan Kishan, but another man struck on his comeback and it was the outspoken all-rounder from New Zealand, Jimmy Neesham. 

Those who have followed Neesham over the years as an all-rounder would know that there is always one or two games in a series, tournament or league that he would win his team either with the bat or ball. But expecting more than that would be too much for the fans. So this turned out to be that game for Mumbai Indians as they were blessed with a Jimmy Neesham special in bowling. 

After early blows by Coulter-Nile and Jasprit Bumrah slowing down the Royals run rate, Neesham was seen as an appetizer by the likes of Royals’ skipper Sanju Samson, who attacked him on the very first ball, and due to the slow nature of the wicket, was through the shot way too early, resulting in a low catch to Jayant Yadav at point, which was latched on to by him gleefully. 

After Samson, the 31-year-old managed to force Shivam Dube to drag the ball into his own stumps and gave a double blow to the Royals. When it looked like a partnership developing between Miller and Rahul Tewatia, Neesham came back and got Tewatia caught behind the stumps to end up with his best IPL figures of 3-12 from four overs. 

Flops

Sanju Samson

If there was one match at this point of time that required Sanju Samson the skipper to lead from the front, it was this one. The openers, who had taken the Royals to victory in the last game were down and out and thus the onus was on him to take responsibility and guide the team to at least a fighting total which would have been anywhere around 130. 

The fact that he was also the only batter apart from Jaiswal in the side who could have rotated strike easily, as the rest of them seemed to have been knowing only one game of hit and run. But on this very day, the leader failed to impress upon his troops. He got out on three from eight balls, trying to attack Neesham. 

For a man with almost 500 runs this season, more was expected than trying to hit the new bowler on the very first delivery that he faced. And it wasn’t just with the bat, even in the field he missed a very easy stumping of Rohit Sharma off the bowling of Shreyas Gopal. 

Though Sharma eventually got out after adding seven more runs to his total, the point was had he got that stumping, it would have boosted his and the bowler’s morale and the match might have stretched a bit more. 

Shivam Dube

Dube, who was bought for a hefty sum in this year’s auction showed some promise in the last game when he was packed for the first time in the XI in the UAE leg. It was expected that in a do-or-die game like this, the Mumbai-born would rise to the occasion and deliver something similar, if not that grand, as he did against then table-toppers Chennai Super Kings in his last game. 

Given that Samson got out just as he walked in, almighty have hampered his confidence a bit, but a batter can only grow when he fights in tough situations. 

Losing a wicket on an unplayable delivery is still acceptable, but getting played-on a Jimmy Neesham length ball is an unforgivable cricket for batter and Dube today was guilty of that and thus made it to this list. He scored three of six balls. 

From here onwards, although mathematically Rajasthan have a chance of playoffs qualification, it is almost impossible seeing how low their run rate has dropped. However, Mumbai could very well get through if they win against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last league game and Rajasthan manages to beat KKR in their next game.