Rajasthan Royals, with new captain Steve Smith, upset Mumbai Indians

Steve Smith took over as captain from Ajinkya Rahane just hours before the start of the game Source

Just hours before the start of the Rajasthan Royals match against Mumbai Indians, the Royals announced a change in captaincy. Steve Smith took over as the captain from Ajinkya Rahane. The Aussie anchored his sides inning and led them to a victory over Mumbai Indians with an unbeaten 59 scored off 48 balls. This is the third victory for Rajasthan Royals from 9 matches and keeps their hopes of a playoff qualification alive. Both Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals retain their places in the league table as the second and second last teams respectively.

When Rajasthan Royals put Mumbai Indians in to bat Shreyas Gopal immediately highlighted his importance in the Royal attack when he caught and bowled Rohit Sharma in his first over, the second of the inning. The bowler was unfortunate to have Quinton de Kock dropped at long on by Jofra Archer in the same over. De Kock, however, brushed aside a blemish to plunder 19 runs off Dhawal Kulkarni’s next over. He put together a partnership of 97 runs with Surya Kumar Yadav for the second wicket. Stuart Binny ended the partnership when he had Yadav caught by Kulkarni at fine leg.


Quinton De Kock scored 65 from 47 balls for Mumbai Indians Source

Shreyas Gopal claimed the wicket of de Kock when he tried to pull a wrong one from Shreyas Gopal from outside the off stump. Ben Stokes took a simple catch at long on. De Kock had scored 65 runs from 47 balls and Mumbai Indians were 111 for 3 wickets with fourteen and a half overs gone. Shreyas Gopal finished with two wickets for 21 runs from his four overs. Having score 81 runs after 10 overs, the Mumbai batsmen could not force the pace as Gopal (2 for 21) and Jofra Archer (1 for 19) kept them on a tight leash.

Hardik Pandya and Keiron Pollard could not do much as Pollard was bowled by Jaydev Unadkat when he tried to send one into the mid-wicket stands. Hardik Pandya was dropped twice by Archer, both the times off the bowling of Jayadev Unadkat. But Jofra Archer finally trapped Hardik Pandya leg before after the batsman had scored a brisk 23 from 15 balls. Ben Cutting with 13 runs remained not out along with Krunal Pandya as the Mumbai Indians inning came to an end on 161 for 5 wickets.


Steve Smith played a captains Knock to take Rajasthan Royals to victory Source

Sanju Samson took the place of Jos Butler as an opener as the later has gone home to be with his wife awaiting the birth of their first child. Samson promptly despatched Hardik Pandya for two consecutive boundaries and scored another three off Krunal Pandya in the next over. Rahul Chahar foxed Ajinkya Rahane, who had hit him for two boundaries earlier in the over, into giving a simple catch to Suryakumar Yadav at the cover. Samson and Smith took the total to a healthy 60 for one at the end of the power play.

Chahar claimed both Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes in the eighth over of the match in what could have been a game-changing over. While he had Samson hole out to long-on, Stokes perished when he tried to cut a ball, was cramped for space, and played the ball on to his stumps. But Steve Smith stitched together a partnership of 70 runs with Riyan Parag for the fourth wicket to keep Rajasthan Royals firmly in control of the required run Rate. Parag Played an attacking inning punishing the loose balls and playing some innovative strokes while Smith concentrated on rotating the strike.


Riyan Parag scored a brisk 43 off 29 balls to take Rajasthan Royals to a commanding position Source

Riyan Parag (43 off 29 balls) was run out when the two batsmen risked taking a second run when Steve Smith played the ball to the left of Ben Cutting at deep midwicket. A strong throw saw the batsman short of the crease at the bowlers end. Ashton Turner collected his fourth successive ‘duck’ when he was trapped leg before by Jasprit Bumrah. But with the asking rate, just 4.5 runs an over, Steve Smith and Stuart Binny saw Rajasthan Royals home with 5 wickets in hand and 5 balls remaining.