Sandeep takes 5; Jaiswal slams century to help Royals thrash MI
JAIPUR: Sandeep Sharma grabbed his maiden five-wicket haul in the IPL to help Rajasthan Royals restrict Mumbai Indians to 179/9 after Yuzvendra Chahal entered history books with 200 dismissals in their clash here on Monday.
In reply, Yashasvi Jaiswal scored an unbeaten 104 off 60 balls to help his team consolidate its position at the top with 14 points in eight matches, while Mumbai slumped to its fifth loss in 8 games.
Coming back after an injury layoff, Sandeep (5/18) claimed three of his five wickets in a terrific final over while also accounting for Tilak Varma, whose 45ball 65 (5x4s, 3x6s) lifted MI from a precarious position.
With its top-order blown away without any resistance for the second time this season by Rajasthan, MI was struggling at 52/4 at one stage. But Varma and Nehal Wadhera (49) fought their way through adversity to deliver the goods for Mumbai Indians, putting on 99 runs for the fifth wicket at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.
However, MI lost wickets in heap on either side of its fifth-wicket stand to post the lowest total for all teams batting first at this venue this season. Varma produced his second fifty of the season whereas Wadhera missed out on his milestone by one run.
This was after Chahal became the first bowler in IPL history to have completed 200 wickets, accounting for Afghanistan batter Mohammad Nabi in the eighth over to reach the milestone.
Looking to get on top early on and against Trent Boult, Rohit Sharma (6) perished in the first over after skying a catch to Sanju Samson.
MI slipped further when comeback man Sandeep had Ishan Kishan (0) edging one behind to Samson, with the RR skipper getting the decision overturned in his favour via DRS. Kishan was guilty of playing away from the body without any movement of the feet as the ball took the edge to settle in Samson’s gloves.
Sandeep created further issues for MI when he took out Suryakumar Yadav (10) from the equation, getting him caught by Rovman Powell. Suryakumar began well but was a tad early into his shot on this occasion, with an edge flying to Powell at midon. Nabi tried to counterattack with a brisk start, which helped him move quickly to 23 with two fours and a six off 17 balls.
BRIEF SCORES: MI 179/9 in 20 overs (T Varma 65,
N Wadhera 49, S Sharma 5/18) lost to RR 183/1 in 18.4 overs (Y Jaiswal 104*)