Our correspondent
Mumbai Indians registered their fourth successive victory in IPL 2020, in Abu Dhabi on October 6 as they inflicted a 57-run defeat on Rajasthan Royals.
MI won the toss and elected to bat. Player of the match Suryakumar Yadav hit an unbeaten 79 off 47 balls to give Mumbai Indians an imposing total of 193/4 in 20 overs. He was ably supported by captain Rohit Sharma (35 off 23 balls) and Hardik Pandya (30 not out off 19 balls).
Chasing the Mumbai total, Rajasthan lost three top-order batsmen in quick succession; while Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson were out for a duck on Trent Boult’s fiery bowling, captain Steve Smith was felled by Jasprit Bumrah. Only Jos Buttler (70 off 44 balls) carried the fight for the Royals, slamming five sixes and four boundaries.
Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets while James Pattinson and Trent Boult picked two wickets each. Mumbai, which bowled out RR for 137, were also helped by two sensational catches – of the wickets of Mahipal Lomror and Jofra Archer by substitute Anukul Roy and Kieron Pollard respectively.
Rajasthan Royals which had picked up two wins in the first two games of IPL 2020 lost the next two against Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. RR’s strength is its top-order and its middle-order appears to be struggling.
RR could gain from the arrival of England all-rounder Ben Stokes, who missed the opening matches of this season because of personal reasons. Stokes reached the UAE on October 4, but did not play in the match against Mumbai Indians owing to COVID-19 protocols. Stokes has to undergo six days of isolation before he can join his Royals teammates on October 11 probably. He has to undergo COVID-19 test on Days 1, 3 and 6, and will be allowed if all the tests are negative.
