The Mumbai Indians, who have won the IPL five times before, have won the IPL 6 times in a row after defeating the Rajasthan Royals by 100 runs, causing the Royals to get eliminated from the playoffs.
Winning the toss and being given the opportunity to bat first, Mumbai achieved a massive score of 217 runs (Suryakumar Yadav 48, Hardik Pandya 48, Rohit Sharma 53, Ryan Rickelton 61).
The Royals were skittled out for 117 runs, while Trent Boult and Karn Sharma took 3 wickets each, and Jasprit Bumrah bowled exceptionally well, claiming 2 wickets for just 15 runs.
With this win, Mumbai gained 14 points and claimed the top position on the points table.
Mumbai captain Pandya remarked that the team was going back to “simple” cricket in terms of combining clinical batting and bowling.
“As a group, the way we batted was proper batsmanshi” he stated. “Everyone is really clear. There is a shift for us going back to simple cricket, and it’s working for that. We want to take game by game and be humble and disciplined.”
Mumbai’s openers, Rohit and Ryan Rickelton, got the first innings off to a blistering start with a 116-run partnership, where Rickelton scored 61 runs off 38 balls before being dismissed in the 12th over.
Rohit fell a short while later as he became the next wicket to fall, leaving the team at 123-2.
Suryavanshi (0) was also dismissed for a first-over duck and Jaiswal’s (13) hasty exit left the team struggling at 20-2 by the end of the second over.
Also unfortunate for the hosts was a busting Mumbai bowling attack who triggered a batting collapse.
Riyan Parag (16), Shimron Hetmyer (0), Shubham Dubey (15, Dhruv Jurel fell for 11) and Nitish Rana, who took 9, all succumbed in quick succession, leaving the team wobbling at 76-7 by the end of the ninth over.
Archer looked hopeful as he scored 30 runs off 27 balls, but ultimately fell, leaving the Royals far from their target.
Parag mentioned that the Mumbai Indians earned his respect “for the way they batted.”
“Sure, 190-200 would be ideal. We are getting good starts,” he stated. “But it’s the responsibility of the middle order… to come through. I believe we have done right a lot of things. And a lot of things are wrong.”