Sandeep Sharma’s five-wicket haul and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s sublime century helped Rajasthan Royals ease past Mumbai Indians by nine wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Monday.
Returning to the playing XI for the first time in almost a month, Sandeep showed no signs of rustiness as he delivered match figures of 5/18 in his four overs, his best in T20 cricket, before the young left-hander sealed the deal with his first century of the season.
Chasing a target of 179, Jaiswal (104, 60b, 9x4, 7x6) and Jos Buttler got the Royals to a brisk start in the PowerPlay. The duo put on 61 runs in the first six overs before rain delayed proceedings for nearly 40 minutes.
The break in play allowed Mumbai to find a route back into the game – veteran leg-spinner Piyush Chawla castling Buttler for a 25-ball 35. Jaiswal though, refused to let the bowlers take the initiative, counter-attacking the spinners, along with Captain Sanju Samson.
The duo managed the remainder of the chase brilliantly – Jaiswal completing his hundred and the win in the penultimate over while also bringing up the century partnership between the two.
Earlier in the day, Mumbai Indians got off to another torrid PowerPlay start losing Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan within the first couple of overs.
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Suryakumar Yadav started on a positive note but was caught unaware by a smart field change from Samson, positioning Rovman Powell at long-on, with the batter finding him perfectly with his attempted leg-side flick.
Mohammad Nabi’s counter-attacking cameo was short-lived as the 39-year-old handed Yuzvendra Chahal his 200th IPL wicket with a simple return catch.
Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera rotated the strike regularly, punishing the occasional bad balls to the boundary, trying to put up a challenging total.
The pair took down Avesh for 19 in his second over and continued the merry-making against Chahal, scoring 20 off the 16th -- Tilak completing his 38-ball fifty in the process.
Wadhera fell to Trent Boult, one short of his fifty, bringing the flourishing partnership to a halt at 99 runs. Sandeep returned to pick up three wickets in the last over to restrict Mumbai to a below-par total.
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