IPL 2021: Twitter Reacts As Mumbai Indians Return To Winning Ways Thanks To A 7-Wicket Thumping Of Rajasthan Royals

By Yash Mittal

Updated - 29 Apr 2021, 09:12 PM

Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals
Quinton de Kock stroked a match-winning 50-ball 70 not-out [Image-IPLT20]

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A brilliant unbeaten half-century by Quinton de Kock [70* off 50 balls] and a valuable knock by Krunal Pandya [39 off 26 balls] has helped Mumbai Indians break their two-match losing streak and notch up their third win of the season courtesy a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals.

Needing 172 to win, Mumbai Indians started slowly as Jaydev Unadkat and Chetan Sakariya bowled consistently well in the first two overs.

Quinton de Kock broke the shackles with a late-cut past third man for a four followed by scoop past fine-leg for a six off consecutive deliveries bowled by Mustafizur Rahman in the 4th over.

Rohit Sharma (14 off 17 balls), who had managed 5 runs in his first 11 balls, finally got one off the middle as he pulled Jaydev Unadkat for a six over deep midwicket in the following over to take the total to 0/36.

De Kock did the same to Chris Morris on the very first delivery of the next over before backing it up with a leg-glance for another boundary.

Rohit was dismissed by Morris [Image-IPLT20]
Morris, however, came back brilliantly as Rohit Sharma, in what was a pretty soft dismissal, chipped a full-length delivery straight to the Chetan Sakariya at mid-on.

But the dismissal of Rohit did not have any effect on the Mumbai Indians scoring as the duo of De Kock and Suryamkumar Yadav smashed four boundaries within a space of seven balls, with three of them coming off the bat of SKY (16 off 10 balls).

Chris Morris after dismissing SKY [Image-IPLT20]
With Surya looking in imperious touch, Sanju Samson brought Chris Morris back in the attack and the move proved to be a masterstroke as the right-hander, in an attempt to nonchalantly whip-flick proceeded to hit it straight to Buttler at short midwicket.

But De Kock continued to go in his merry way. The southpaw took his liking to an easy-paced Delhi track and proceeded to smash Rajasthan Royals bowling attack to all corners with his 360-degree stroke play.

Quinton de Kock [Image-IPLT20]
De Kock racked up his first 50 of the season in 35 balls in the 12th over as Mumbai Indians notched up the 100-run mark.

With De Kock going great guns and Krunal Pandya, who was promoted to No.4, providing him good support, Rajasthan Royals desperately needed a breakthrough and Chetan Sakariya nearly provided them with the all-important scalp of QDK when the southpaw mistimed an extra cover loft but Yashasvi Jaiswal, despite his best of efforts, couldn’t gobble it.

Krunal Pandya [Image-IPLT20]
Krunal Pandya played some cracking stroked and he and QDK en-route to a 50-run-stand put the Mumbai Indians in cruise mode. Mustafizur Rahman knocked over Pandya [39 off 26] in the 17th over but it was too little, too late by then as Quinton de Kock and a whirlwind cameo by Kieron Pollard helped Mumbai Indians pick up their third win of the season.

 

Rajasthan Royals posted 4/171 against Mumbai Indians thanks to valuable knocks by Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, and Yashasvi Jaiswal

Batting first, Rajasthan Royals got off to an indifferent start as Jos Buttler got quite a lot of reprieves in the powerplay.

Jos Buttler survived close chances on consecutive deliveries against Jasprit Bumrah in the 4th over where he got a thick inside edge while driving but the ball fell just short of the fielder. Then, on the very next ball, the opening batsman survived a close run-out chance.

Jos Butter got two more reprieves in the next over bowled by Jayant Yadav when he got a leading edge while trying to slog across the line but Rahul Chahar failed to grab a tough chance.

Mumbai Indians, Rajasthan Royals, Jos Buttler, Rahul Chahar
Rahul Chahar dismisses Jos Buttler [Image-IPLT20]
Buttler got another chance on the succeeding ball when he missed the ball while trying to muscle it past extra-cover.

The right-hander finally broke the shackles by smashing Jayant Yadav for a four and a six on consecutive deliveries in the same over before smashing another six off Yadav in his next over.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, on the other hand, continued to impress with his strokeplay against the pacers. Jaiswal thumped Nathan Coulter-Nile for a four and a six in the 6th over to ensure that Rajasthan Royals finished the powerplay at 0/47.

Rahul Chahar’s introduction to the attack finally brought about the dismissal of Jos Buttler.

It all happened during the 7th over of the Rajasthan Royals innings. A ball prior to the dismissal, Rahul Chahar had bowled a long-hop, and Buttler obliged by rocking back on the backfoot and pulling him over deep midwicket for a six.

Chahar, however, came back brilliantly as he tossed the next ball up ever so slowly enticing Butler to dance down the track.

Jos Buttler did exactly that but the issue was that he failed to get anywhere near the pitch of the ball. The ball turned past his outside edge as he looked to heave it over midwicket and ended up missing it altogether to give Qdk an easy stumping.

Rahul Chahar, Yashasvi Jaiswal
Rahul Chahar taking a catch off Yashasvi Jaiswal’s bat. (Credits: Twitter)

Sanju Samson came out all guns blazing as he smashed three fours in his first six balls. Jaiswal backed it up with a six off Rahul Chahar but once again Chahar had the last laugh as the leg-spinner induced a leading edge off the southpaw’s bat, who in an attempt to tuck the googly on the on-side, ended up giving the bowler an easy return catch and the leg-spinner proceeded to give a fiery send-off to the young opener.

Sanju Samson, Trent Boult
Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube [Image-IPLT20]
Following the dismissal of Jaiswal, Rajasthan Royals decided to send Shivam Dube (35 off 31 balls) ahead of David Miller. And, the move backfired as Dube failed to keep up the scoring rate even as Sanju Samson continued to smash boundaries at will at the other end.

He managed just 24 runs off his first 21 deliveries and with just overs in the innings left, two of which were of Jasprit Bumrah’s, Rajasthan Royals desperately needed Dube to switch gears.

Bumrah bowled an excellent 17th over in which he gave away just 5 runs.

Trent Boult, Sanju Samson
Trent Boult castles Sanju Samson with a thunderboult Yorker. (Photo: BCCI/Screengrab)

Sanju Samson’s knock of 27-ball 42 eventually came to an end in the next over thanks to a pin-point yorker by Trent Boult.

Shivam Dube smoked a six off Boult to end the 18th over but his struggle eventually came to an end as the champion death bowler Jasprit Bumrah (1/15 in four overs) brought about his downfall with a caught & bowled opportunity.

Rajasthan Royals finished strongly though as David Miller and Riyan Parag took 12 runs off the final over to take the score to 4/171.

 

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

https://twitter.com/ComeToGabbaMate/status/1387752412832620546?s=19

https://twitter.com/BahetiVidushi/status/1387724099154112516?s=19

https://twitter.com/WhatIsCricket/status/1387726306540855297?s=19

Tagged:

Mumbai Indians (MI) Rajasthan Royals (RR)

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