Sandeep Sharma announced his comeback from an injury with brilliant figures of 5-18, the best by any bowler in this season’s IPL before Yashasvi Jaiswal returned to form with a 59-ball century as host Rajasthan Royals ended their home leg with a nine-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday night.
The Royals concluded their campaign in Jaipur with a seventh decisive victory in eight games, solidifying their position atop the table.
Jaiswal sealed the Rajasthan`s chase with a boundary after, Mumbai Indians set a middling target of 180 that hinged on a 99-run fifth-wicket stand between Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera. Prior to a 30-minute rain delay, Jaiswal had 31 from 18 balls and then converted his first fifty of a challenging season into a towering 104 not out from 60 balls.
With the in-form Jos Buttler (35 from 25) Jaiswal added 74 runs in eight overs and 109 in 65 deliveries with skipper Sanju Samson. Tim David`s horrendous reprieve at midwicket on 19 was the turning point for Mumbai. At 50, Jaiswal had also suffered a significant setback when, from deep cover, Wadhera missed a leading-edge swipe that went over the rope for six.
Mumbai`s two standout bowlers encapsulated their performance on Monday night. Gerald Coetzee bowled like the wind in his one Power-play over, clearly troubling Jaiswal with his pace of over 150 kph, especially with a top-edged draw that sailed over the keeper for four, after being worked up by a first-ball slap for six.
However, Hardik Pandya did not give him another over until late, by which time the match was already gone and he again got a well-set batter to falter.
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Jasprit Bumrah was also kept back too late in the chase, and even though he bowled with unmatched vigour upfront—including a two-run opening over to curb Buttler`s early intentions, his comeback over was not successful. After a first ball no-ball and a second ball wide on height, Jaiswal blasted the rolled-over free hit for six to complete a 16-run over, which was Bumrah`s most costly of an outstanding season.
Earlier, Sandeep Sharma caused maximum damage in the Mumbai Indians` innings and returned with stunning figures of 5-18–the best by an Indian bowler for the Royals, and on his return from injury too as Rajasthan restricted Mumbai to 179/9 after just nine runs came in the final two overs.
After early setbacks resulted in them being restricted to 45/3 in Power-play, Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera rebuilt the innings with a steady stand partnership as Ravichandran Ashwin completed his four overs for 31 runs and went wicketless once more having claimed just one in the tournament to date. Varma completed his fifty in 38 balls — and at 21 years and 166 days, he is the third youngest to reach 1000 runs in IPL.
Before that Yuzvendra Chahal reached the milestone of 200 wickets–first bowler in the history of IPL. Chahal`s third ball gripped on a good length as Mohammad Nabi closed the face on the front foot, and it was a simple lob catch back into his waiting hands that brought up his 200th IPL wicket.
Only two other men have previously reached 200 wickets in a T20 competition — Danny Briggs (219) and Samit Patel (208), both in England`s T20 Blast. Mumbai Indians were 72 for 4 after 10 overs.
Chahal came back with his third over of his spell and was taken into remand as Wadhera and Tilak hammered him for 20 runs (the most expensive of the inning). After Tilak’s first ball six, Wadhera took it upon himself to lead the celebrations with two more sixes in a very significant over. Mumbai were 151 for 4 after 16 overs.
Boult came back into attack for his last over of the spell and broke the big partnership of 99 runs between Wadhera and Verma. It was an attempted uppercut from Wadhera, looking to reach his own fifty, but the returning Trent Boult outfoxed him with the slower short ball.
Nehal Wadhera got out scoring 49 in 24 deliveries. It was a very timely strike from Avesh Khan, who aimed full and straight with Hardik Pandya shuffling to the off-side and nailed him plumb in front with the fast full-toss. Mumbai Indians` captain got out for a run-a-ball 10.
It was a superb over from Avesh as just six runs came from it. Avesh nailed his length perfectly, and one ball later, Varma holed out to deep mid-on on the first ball of Sandeep`s final over. Varma got out after scoring 65 in 45 deliveries.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 179/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 65, Nehal Wadhera 49; Sandeep Sharma 5-18, Trent Boult 2-32) lost to Rajasthan Royals 183/1 in 18.4 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 104 not out, Sanju Samson 38 not out; Piyush Chawla 33-1) by nine wickets.
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