New Delhi: Century from Jos Buttler was backed by the sensational effort from Rajasthan Royals spinners as they defeated Mumbai Indians by 23 runs in their Indian Premier League 2022 match here at Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Navi Mumbai on Saturday.
RR's spin twins Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin broke the game open as the five-time champs fell way short in the end.
Chasing 194, Mumbai Indians didn't enjoy such a great start as their score read 50/2 after the powerplay. Prasidh Krishna removed Rohit Sharma in the second over. MI skipper cut straight to Riyan Parag at point, who took a really good catch as the ball flew to him off the middle of the bat.
In the 4th over, Navdeep Saini dismissed Anmolpreet Singh. The ball stopped a bit off the pitch and Anmolpreet was early to the shot which then chipped to Padikkal at extra covers.
The middle overs were better for MI batters, as they amassed 86 runs with the loss of two wickets. In the last ball of 13th over Trent Boult sent dangerous-looking Ishan Kishan back into the hut for 54 off 43. Kishan pulled the ball flat and it travelled with great speed as Saini took a stupendous catch in the deep square leg.
In the very next over, youngster Tilak Varma brought his maiden fifty in the IPL. With MI chase going on with a comfortable pace, the experienced spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin tilted the momentum back in favour of RR.
Ashwin first removed Tilak for 61 and then Chahal struck twice in the 16th over to send Tim David and Daniel Sams back to the pavilion in consecutive deliveries.
With 39 runs needed from 12 balls, Prasidh Krishna leaked only 10 runs in the penultimate over. Navdeep Saini then proceeded to win the match for RR in the last over. Earlier, a sizzling century from Jos Buttler took Rajasthan Royals to 193/8 against Mumbai Indians.
Buttler smashed 100 while Shimron Hetmyer and Sanju Samson played inspiring knocks of 35 and 30 respectively. For Mumbai Indians, Jasprit Bumrah and Tymal Mills scalped three wickets each.
Put in to bat first, Rajasthan endured a bad start as their score read 48/2 after the powerplay. In the 3rd over, Jasprit Bumrah removed RR opener Yashasvi Jaiswal to give Mumbai their first wicket. MI bowler bowled a good length delivery and gave no room to Jaiswal as RR batter tried to flick it and the ball found the fielder.
The 4th over was massive for RR, as their other opener Buttler smashed Basil Thampi for 24 runs to shift the momentum to his side. In the last ball of the powerplay, Tymal Mills dismissed Devdutt Padikkal. Padikkal tried to finish the powerplay on a high note as he attempted to pull the short ball but ended up mistiming it. In the end, it was an easy catch for the MI skipper Rohit Sharma.
The RR batters excelled in the middle overs as they gathered 90 runs (10 rpo) with the loss of just one wicket. Sanju Samson and Buttler stitched a valuable partnership that was undone by Kieron Pollard when he removed RR skipper in the 15th over. Samson mistimed the lofted shot as the ball went high and then to the hands of Tilak Varma in deep mid-wicket.
Shimron Hetmyer then joined Buttler and the duo started clocking runs for RR. In the 17th and 18th over, Hetmyer went ballistic and gathered 38 runs for RR. In the last two overs, MI battled back and took five wickets to ensure RR don't reach the score of 200.