IPL 2020 Match 45: Talking points as Ben Stokes come back resulted in RR win

Rajasthan Royals (RR) won the match against Mumbai Indians (MI) by eight wickets in Abu Dhabi. Following the match, MI still stay at the top while RR have risen to the sixth position on the points table. 
 

The match in Abu Dhabi was a little gripping initially but later drew all the eyeballs owing to massive striking by Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson, and Ben Stokes. As RR easily chased a high scoring total put up by MI, here are some of the talking points of the match.

MI performance with the bat
With Quinton de Kock departing early, Suryakumar Yadav walked in at an early stage. Together Ishan Kishan and Yadav made an 83-run stand that stabilized MI in the middle overs. Besides, Saurabh Tiwary contributed reasonably well with the bat. 

The Junior Pandya Show
It was a delight to see Hardik Pandya smashing the ball in all his natural style. Just when MI looked short of runs towards the end, he smashed 60 runs off just 21 balls, comprising seven sixes and two fours. His contribution with the willow was significant to drive MI to a formidable total of 195 runs on the board. 

RR show with the ball
Among the RR bowlers, Jofra Archer, Rahul Tewatia, and Shreyas Gopal displayed excellent skills with the ball. They maintained an economy below 7.8 and together scalped four wickets.

Blazing Ben Stokes
Truly, the wait to see the innings from the overseas player was worth it! Having opened with Robin Uthappa, he looked promising from the very start. Alone he smashed 107 runs off just 60 balls, smashing three sixes and fourteen fours. He was the prime contributor to RR win against MI. 

Sazzy Samson
Samson played intelligent cricket that resulted in three strikes with a single arrow. Besides making a 152-run match-winning partnership with Ben Stokes, 54 runs from his bat even brought his much-needed comeback. Together both Samson and Stokes took MI bowlers for a ride and smashed the big shots.