Ben Stokes Slams century, Rajasthan Royals Won By 8 Wickets Mumbai Indians . Tonight saw the highest successful chase ever in the IPL against the Mumbai Indians.
PERFORMERS OF THE DAY
RAJASTHAN ROYALS Bat: Ben Stokes 107(60) Sanju Samson 54(31) Bowl: Jofra Archer 4-0-31-2 Shreyas Gopal 4-0-30-2
MUMBAI INDIANS Bat: Hardik Pandya 60*(21) Suryakumar Yadav 40(26) Bowl: James Pattinson 3.2-0-40-2
AS IT HAPPENED
Mumbai Indians won the toss and chose to bat first. The numbers are building up in favour of the teams chasing. Chasing teams have won 14 of the previous 20 matches. RR did well to chase a high score and made a very good bowling line-up look ordinary in front of some class batting.
Ishan and Surya Set The Stage
De Kock got out early today, probably the law of averages got him but it was a great delivery by Jofra Archer. Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav set the stage up nicely for the hitters to come. They batted out the powerplay after which MI were 59/1. The partnership was broken in the 11th over when Kishan fell to Tyagi or more correctly, to probably the catch of the season by Jofra Archer. Kishan and Surya had a partnership of 83 runs.
Kung-Fu Pandya Goes Beast Mode
MI lost 3 wickets within 15 deliveries and the job to finish well lay on Hardik Pandya who until this match had been off-colour. Hardik scored just 8 runs off his first 9 deliveries but what followed was carnage. Here is his next 12 deliveries – 6, 1, 6, 6, 6, 0, 1, 6, 4, 4, 6, 6. 52 runs in 12 balls!
Saurabh Tiwary assisted Hardik well and MI made 74 runs in the last 4 overs. MI finished on 195-5 and at half way through, MI looked favourites to win this match.
Ben Stokes played probably his best ever innings in the IPL . Questions were raised before the match on his adequacy as an opener but he shut down all his critics tonight. He made a blistering century and negated Pandya’s innings in what was a fitting reply from one all-rounder to another. Ben Stokes Slams century.
No Wickets After the Powerplay
RR lost both Uthappa and Smith in the powerplay and at that stage, RR looked like they were deep in trouble. But a brilliant partnership and striking from Samson and Stokes meant that RR didn’t lose any further wickets. Bowlers like Bumrah, Boult and Pattinson were unable to break this partnership and the assault never stopped.
Big Guns Back in Form
The most comforting thing for RR in this game was the return to form of their big guns, Samson and Stokes. But is it a little too late for them? They can now get a maximum of only 14 points. RR will give it their all in the remaining two games and hope for the other results to go their way.
Pollard’s Captaincy Record Comes to an End
Kieron Pollard who has been captaining MI in the absence of Rohit Sharma had won 15 T20 games straight as a captain prior to this match. This incredible record came to an end against an on-song Stokes and Rajasthan Royals.
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