- Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in their Indian Premier League match in Jaipur on Saturday, 20 April
- Mumbai Indians: 161 for 5 in 20 overs (Quinton de Kock 65, Suryakumar Yadav 34; Shreyas Gopal 2/21)
- Rajasthan Royals: 162 for 5 in 19.1 overs (Steve Smith 59*, Riyan Parag 43; Rahul Chahar 3/29)
On a day when he was handed over the reigns of captaincy, Steve Smith led from the front, helping Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians by 5 wickets at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur on Saturday, 20 April.
After restricting Mumbai to 161/5, captain Smith – who replaced Ajinkya Rahane as the skipper for the remainder of the season – scored a 48-ball 59 to help Rajasthan get to their 162-run target with 5 wickets in hand and 5 balls remaining.
Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag too supported their skipper with useful knocks of 35 and 43, respectively.
Mumbai Indians’ Innings
Put in to bat first, opener Quinton de Kock smashed 65 off 47 balls with six fours and two sixes, adding 97 runs off 68 balls for the second wicket with Suryakumar Yadav (34 off 33 balls) that helped MI total gain a semblance of respectability.
Smith introduced leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal (2/21 in 4 overs) in the third over. He deceived rival skipper Rohit Sharma( 5), who stepped out only to offer a return catch after failing to read a googly.
Gopal could have got rid of De Kock off the last ball of the over but Jofra Archer dropped a difficult chance at long on.
Making most out of this reprieve De Kock helped his team reach 50-run mark in 6.5 overs.
He reached his own half-century in 34 balls and his partnership with Suryakumar was broken when latter was caught in deep off Stuart Binny in the 14th over.
A few balls later Quinton de Kock too was holed out in long-on as Hardik Pandya and Pollard joined forces with scoreboard reading 112 for 3 in 15 overs.
Pollard (10 runs 7 balls) was dropped by Archer once again. Hardik played another of his cameos scoring 23 off 15 balls.
Rajasthan Royals’ Innings
Chasing a modest target of 162, the hosts started on a positive note, scoring 31 runs in the first three overs before Rahul Chahar drew the first blood for Mumbai as the leg-spinner cut short opener Ajinkya Rahane's (12) stay in the fourth over.
Samason and Smith were then involved in a 37-run second wicket partnership before Chahar struck again in the eighth over to pack back the former, leaving Rajasthan at 76/2. Four balls later, Chahar added more misery to the Mumbai camp by dismissing Ben Stokes (0).
Smith was then joined by Parag and the duo denied Mumbai from making any further inroads as they both propelled Rajasthan past the 100-run mark in 11.1 overs.
The hosts were comfortably placed at 137/3 in 16 overs and it seemed the two will steer their side to victory. However, Parag fell short of the crease while converting a single and had to depart in the 18th over.
Jasprit Bumrah then trapped Ashton Turner (0) in front of the wicket with Rajasthan still needing 9 runs off the last 11 balls. But Smith ensured that there were no further hiccups as he steered Rajasthan to a much-needed victory.
For Mumbai, Chahar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/29 while Bumrah bagged one wicket.
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