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Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s second Indian Premier League (IPL) century and Sandeep Sharma's maiden fifer led Rajasthan Royals (RR) to an easy nine-wicket win over Mumbai Indians (MI) at home with eight balls to spare. The Hardik Pandya-led side paid the price for dropping catches as they suffered their fifth loss of the ongoing IPL 2024. RR registered their seventh win of the tournament and continued to hold the pole position on the points table.
Top-order crumbles
Earlier, Pandya won the toss and opted to bat first. Rohit Sharma got off the mark with a boundary. He went for a big hit but the ball ballooned up in the air. Sanju Samson took the catch as Trent Boult got rid of Rohit once again. Sandeep struck in his first over too. Ishan Kishan departed for a three-ball duck as he edged one to the wicketkeeper. Suryakumar Yadav hit a couple of boundaries but in Sandeep's second over he was caught at mid-on. Mohammad Nabi got the promotion in batting order. After a slow start, he hit Avesh Khan for a six and two fours. MI were 45/3 after six overs.
Chahal’s milestone wicket, Wadhera-Varma’s partnership
Yuzvendra Chahal was introduced in the eighth over and he made Nabi his 200th IPL wicket. Nabi handed an easy catch to Chahal and was dismissed for a 17-ball 23. Nehal Wadhera got his first chance in the season. Wahdera got off the mark with a boundary. Tilak Varma looked to accelerate as well. MI were 72/4 at the halfway stage. Wadhera and Varma looked to push the scoring rate. In the 14th over, Wadhera hit Avesh for two sixes. Varma reached his half-century with a six off Chahal. In the same over, Wadhera hit Chahal for a couple of sixes.
No fireworks in slog overs
Boult came back into the attack and broke the partnership. Wadhera missed his fifty. He scored 49 runs from 24 balls. The two batters shared a 99-run stand for the fifth wicket. Varma finished the over with a maximum over deep midwicket. Skipper Pandya struggled to score quickly. Avesh trapped him in front of the stumps with a full toss. He contributed with a run-a-ball 10. Avesh conceded just six runs in the penultimate over. In the final over, Varma went for an aerial shot against Sandeep and was caught at long-on. He scored 64 runs from 45 balls including five fours and three sixes. Next ball, Gerald Coetzee went for a big hit and got caught for a golden duck. Tim David got out off the penultimate ball of the innings. Sandeep conceded just three runs in the final over and restricted MI for 179/9. He completed his maiden fifer and conceded just 18 runs from his quota of four overs.
Fiery start for Royals
Pandya opened the bowling for MI and conceded two boundaries off impact player Jos Buttler's bat. Jasprit Bumrah started with a tidy two-run over. Nuwan Thushara on his debut was economical in his first over conceding six runs. Jaiswal welcomed Coetzee with a six and finished the over with two fours. Thushara was taken to the cleaners in his second over. Buttler and Jaiswal hit him for two fours each. After powerplay overs, RR wre 61/0. Rain played spoilsport for over 30 minutes before play resumed. Piyush Chawla in his first over broke the partnership. Buttler failed to pick the length and got bowled. He scored 35 runs from 25 balls.
Jaiswal scores century
Jaiswal in the 10th over reached his half-century from 31 overs. At the halfway stage, RR were 95/1. Jaiswal and Samson targetted Nabi and hit him for one six each. Pandya came back into the attack and was hit for a six. Meanwhile, catches were dropped to give advantage to RR. Jaiswal continued to his sixes and even Bumrah couldn't stop him. In the penultimate over, Jaiswal reached his century from 59 balls. He finished the run chase with a boundary as RR won the game by nine wickets with eight balls to spare.
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