DUBAI (UAE): Mumbai Indians (MI) completed a hat-trick of wins after they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 57 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
Electing to bat, MI made their intentions clear straightway as Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock hit a four each in the first over bowled by Ankit Rajpoot.
While Shreyas Gopal bowled a tight second over, Rohit targeted Rajpoot in the third over, hitting a six and a four before de Kock scooped one for four.
In the next over, de Kock took on Jofra Archer to hit a four and a six, but the left-hander got out in the fifth over as debutant Kartik Tyagi picked his maiden IPL wicket.
MI ended the powerplay with 57 runs on the board, losing a wicket.
Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav hit a six and a four respectively in the 8th over before the latter, in the ninth, added three more fours to his account as MI moved closer to 90.
RR, though fought back in the 10th over as Shreyas Gopal scalped two wickets on successive deliveries. First, he had MI skipper Rohit caught in the deep, and then, had Ishan Kishan out on the first ball, miscuing a slog.
MI moved past hundred in the 12th over as Suryakumar Yadav hit a couple of crisp fours. However, they lost their fourth wicket a couple of overs later as Jofra Archer, who was brought back into the attack, dismissed Krunal Pandya.
Suryakumar Yadav, meanwhile, brought up his first fifty of the IPL 2020 in the 16th over as MI surpassed 130-run mark.
MI needed some quick runs to put up a big total on the board and Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik made sure their team got what it was looking for as MI scored 60 off the last four overs.
While the 17th over, bowled by Archer, went for nine runs as Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik hit a four each. RR then had a chance to get Hardik out in the 18th over, but Tom Curran dropped a catch on his own bowling as MI scored 19 in the same over, with Surya hitting a four and a six and Hardik hit a four.
Jofra bowled the dramatic 19th over. While Hardik managed to duck under Jofra’s beamer and save getting hit on the head, Surya was pinged on the head with Jofra’s bouncer. While he was checked for concussion, Surya played an audacious scoop on the next ball to hit a six as MI moved closer to 180 at the close of the penultimate over. (Source: IPL2020)
