An unbeaten 70 off 50 deliveries by Quinton de Kock put Mumbai Indians (MI) back to winning ways on Thursday, 29 April, in match 24 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) in Delhi. Chasing a target of 172 against Rajasthan Royals (RR), Mumbai got the job done with nine balls and seven wickets to spare. After losing their last two fixtures against Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings, this triumph has given Rohit Sharma’s men a much-needed sigh of relief.
Rohit won the toss and put Rajasthan in. Mumbai opted to play an extra bowler, Nathan Coulter-Nile, for the out-of-form Ishan Kishan. There was not much swing on offer for Trent Boult or Jasprit Bumrah during their initial spells. Taking advantage of the lack of lateral movement, Rajasthan openers Jos Buttler (41 off 32 balls) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (32 off 20) provided a quickfire start.
Following the 66-run opening stand, Rajasthan lost both openers in quick successions to Rahul Chahar. From that point captain Sanju Samson (42 off 27) and Shivam Dube (35 off 31 balls) took charge of the proceedings.
Dube and Samson went after the Mumbai bowlers in the middle overs. Jayant Yadav went for plenty (37 in 3 overs). However, the momentum shifted towards Mumbai at the death, as Bumrah as the showed a masterclass of death bowling as Bumrah (4-0-15-1) bowled the 17th and the 19th over conceding a total of 9 runs. Rajasthan eventually finished with a fighting total of 171.
In reply, Mumbai got off to a solid start. De Kock added 49 with Rohit for the first wicket, then 34 with Suryakumar Yadav for the second wicket. He looked at ease and maintained a healthy strike rate throughout. This was his first significant contribution with bat this season, as he hit six fours and two sixes on his way. He combined with Krunal Pandya (39 off 26) and Kieron Pollard (16*) to take Mumbai home with ease.
Towards the end Pollard finished things off with a cameo, scoring 16 of just eight balls.
For Rajasthan, Chris Morris took two wickets but conceded 33 runs in four overs. The other breakthrough was provided by Mustafizur Rahman.
Both teams, meanwhile, will remain in Delhi. Mumbai will take on Chennai two on 1 May, while Rajasthan will be up against a struggling Sunrisers Hyderabad the day after.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 171/4 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson 42; Rahul Chahar 2-33) lost to Mumbai Indians 172/3 in 18.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 70*; Chris Morris 2-33) by 7 wickets with 9 balls to spare. Player of the match: Quinton de Kock.