IPL 2021, RR vs MI: Mumbai demolishes Rajasthan by 8 wickets in 9 overs to strengthen its playoffs contention

Mumbai Indians came up with a spirited performance to outlast Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in its IPL 2021 tie in Sharjah on Tuesday, as it has risen to the fifth spot to strengthen its playoffs contention.

It was a solid performance by defending champion Mumbai Indians (MI), as it outlasted former champion Rajasthan Royals (RR) by eight wickets in Match 51 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday. With this win, MI has risen to the fifth spot with a much-improved net run rate and is well in contention for the playoffs.

Winning the toss, MI skipper Rohit Sharma elected to bowl as he made a couple of changes, while RR skipper Sanju Samson too moved in with two changes. The decision to bowl turned out to be a good one, as RR was off to a shaky start, losing openers Evin Lewis (24) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (12) within the Powerplay, with 41 runs on the board.

It lost three more wickets (Samson- 3, Shivam Dube- 3 and Glenn Phillips- 4) in the subsequent nine runs, by the tenth over, with half of the side back in the hut. Under pressure, David Miller (15) and Rahul Tewatia (12) contributed to a 21-run stand before the latter fell to pacer James Neesham in the 15th.

Within the consequent 11 runs, it lost three more, as it finished on 90/9. MI put six bowlers into the attack, with pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile claiming four, while Neesham was very economical.

As MI came for the chase, openers Rohit (22) and Ishan Kishan (50*) were out with a mission to get over with it soon, in a bid to boost its net run rate. It was off to a fiery start before losing Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav (13) in the PP, to pacers Chetan Sakariya and Mustafizur Rahman, by 56 runs.

However, the damage was already done, as Kishan took it upon himself to steer the ship home, and along with Hardik Pandya (5*), he got the job done within 8.2 overs, while MI won by eight wickets. In the process, he also scored his eighth IPL half-century.

For RR, four pacers were utilised, with Sakariya and Rahman being the only wicket-takers, Kuldip was the most economical of the lot.
Brief scores: RR 90/9 (Lewis- 24; Coulter-Nile- 4/14, Neesham- 3/12) lost to 94/2 in 8.2 overs (Kishan- 50*; Rahman- 1/32) by eight wickets.