Rajasthan Royals (RR) did not break a sweat against five-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Mumbai Indians (MI) as they won by six wickets in the 16th over of the run chase at Wankhede Stadium. While Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up three wickets each, Riyan Parag’s half-century ensured there was no anti-climax to the low-scoring encounter. After RR made short work on the run chase, skipper Sanju Samson said that the toss was the ‘game changer’.
“I think the toss was the game changer. The wicket was too sticky to start off, and the experience of Boult and Burger helped us. He's playing since 10-15 years, and that is what we expected with the new ball,” Samson said in the post-match presentation.
Boult was unplayable with the new ball as he sent Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and impact player Dewald Brevis back to the dugout in his first two overs. Burger inflicted damage too with the wicket of Ishan Kishan. In the fourth over, MI were 20/4. Samson revealed that he did not expect a collapse of such proportion.
“Didn't expect 4-5 wickets to fall, but we knew our bowlers would do well. We know we have big individuals in our team, but where we stand out is everyone recognises their role, does it and moves on,” he added.
Samson lauds Indian spinners
Samson praised Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal as well for putting pressure on MI's middle-order batters. Chahal took three wickets and conceded just 11 runs in his quota of four overs.
“The likes of Ash and Chahal realised we had a good powerplay, and they kept it tight without really looking for wickets. (On Chahal) I think he was really fired up for this IPL, and he's been doing well for the past 2-3 years for us,” he further added.
RR reach summit
Meanwhile, Chahal lauded Samson for his calm demeanour in the middle. This was the Royals’ third win in a row. They climbed to the top of the points table with a higher net run rate (NRR) than any other side in the competition. They will go up against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their home clash on April 6.
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