Mumbai Indians slide down on Buttler ride
Continuing from where he left against Chennai Super Kings on Friday Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) wicketkeeperbatsman Jos Buttler struck another fine innings of unbeaten 94 runs to help his side beat hosts Mumbai Indians (MI) by seven wickets during an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
Royals easily chased Mumbai’s 169-run target with two overs to spare. Buttler struck nine fours and five sixes in his 53-ball knock. He put on 61 runs partnership with Sanju Samson (26 off 14) for the third wicket en route their team’s total of 171 for three.
Earlier, Caribbean batsman Evin Lewis smashed a 42-ball 60 before Hardik Pandya produced a quick-fire 36 to steer MI to a fighting 168 for six. It was difficult to time the ball on the Wankhede wicket and it required immense physical strength to clear the boundary ropes. Lewis batted smartly as he opened his arms only after building his innings steadily after being dropped at individual score of five. Lewis added 87 runs with fellow opener Suryakumar Yadav (38 off 31) who was also dropped on nine by the Royals fielders. Lewis hit four sixes and as many fours in his innings.
West Indies’ paceman Jofra Archer produced excellent bowling performance to put the hosts under pressure. He conceded only 16 runs from his four overs and dismissed Lewis and Suryakumar and Rohit Sharma (0) in successive balls. He used the bounce available in the pitch, hit the deck hard and bowled straight into the batsmen, hardly giving any room to open their arms.
The hosts were struggling badly at one stage, failing to capitalise a good start, but Pandya came up with his blistering knock just in time to propel them. He hit three fours and two sixes in his 21ball knock. Archer troubled Lewis with bounce and created a catching chance but Stuart Binny could not hold on to the ball, which went up miles in the air.
Suryakumar, who was also dropped on nine by Gowtham, though had adjusted to the bounce and negotiated both spinners and pacers nicely, playing confident drives.
The fluffed chances allowed Mumbai Indians to come out of Power-play overs unscathed and with 51 runs on the board. With no success coming, Ajinkya Rahane employed new bowlers — Shreyas Gopal and Jaydev Unadkat — to the job but Suryakumar continued to find odd boundary as he swung his arms, when room was there.