Rajasthan Royals (RR) secured a six-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) at Wankhede Stadium in yesterday’s (April 1) Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) encounter. After being asked to bat first, Mumbai registered a modest 125/9 total in their first home match of the season. Rajasthan chased down the target comfortably in just 15.3 overs. Trent Boult was once again at his very best, he crushed MI batters in the powerplay. He was named as player of the match for his spell of 4 overs 22 runs and 3 wickets.
Rajasthan Royals Bowlers were clinical
The top order of Mumbai Indians failed again. Rajasthan’s left-arm pacer Trent Boult was the pick of the bowlers. In the powerplay, he dismissed Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir, and Dewald Brevis for golden ducks. Following a top-order collapse, Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma salvaged some pride for the Mumbai-based team, scoring 34 and 32, respectively. However, skipper Pandya failed to convert his start into a big score, falling to leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal in the 10th over while trying to clear the long-on fence. Chahal also sent back the well-set Varma in the 14th over. The southpaw was caught by Ravichandran Ashwin at short third-man as he went for a big drive on a full-pitched delivery outside off stump. Tim David was Mumbai’s last hope, but the overseas star struggled to get going, scoring just 17 off 24 balls. Mumbai Indians never got any momentum in the batting which was clearly evident in the final score of the innings.
Rajasthan easily chased the target
Hardik Pandya handed the new ball to his pace-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. The speedster bowled three overs in the powerplay as Mumbai desperately needed early breakthroughs. While Bumrah failed to pick up a wicket despite troubling the batters, Kwena Maphaka got the better of Yashasvi Jaiswal (10 off 6) in the very first over of the innings. Playing in his first match of the season, pacer Akash Madhwal dismissed Sanju Samson (12 off 10) and Jos Buttler (13 off 16) in quick succession. Riyan Parag and Ravichandran Ashwin formed a crucial 40-run partnership for the fourth wicket to steady the ship for Rajasthan. While Ashwin departed after scoring 16 off as many balls, Parag batted till the end, remaining unbeaten on 54 off 39 deliveries. It was the talented youngster’s second half-century of IPL 2024. Parag finished the match in style, hitting two sixes and a four against Gerald Coetzee in the 16th over. Akash Madhwal was Mumbai’s best bowler, registering figures of 4-0-20-3. Riyan Parag was once again the star for the Rajasthan Royals. He carried his form from the last two matches. He is repaying the faith shown towards him by the management. It can definitely be his break through season. Riyan has scored 181 runs in 3 innings, he is just behind Virat Kohli in the orange cap list.
Kevin Varchand