Mumbai Indians lost their third match on the trot as Rajasthan Royals beat them by 7 wickets at Ahmedabad to register their third win in as many matches and got to the top of the IPL points table. Mumbai, on the other hand are languishing at the bottom.
Rajasthan openers Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson, in the chase of 165, got their team off to a steady start before Samson was dismissed by Vinay Kumar caught by skipper Rohit Sharma at mod-off. Royals’ skipper Steve Smith walked in and along with Rahane, he batted sensible as both of them rotated the strike very well and dispatched the odd balls to the boundary. Rahane looked set for a well-made fifty but unfortunately, he was dismissed by Shreyas Gopal caught by Corey Anderson for 46.
Here from their previous match Deepak Hooda walked in and smashed two sixes of two balls before his stumps were knocked off by a Lasith Malinga Yorker. In the other end, Steve Smith remained calm and reached his fifty as he scored some delightful shots against all the Mumbai bowlers especially against Malinga. Smith remained unbeaten on 79 off just 53 balls when his side cruised home with 5 balls to spare.
Earlier choosing to bat, Mumbai were reeling at 45-3 at the end of 11 overs but managed to put 164 on the board courtesy some colossal hitting from Kieron Pollard and Corey Anderson. The duo shared a 104 run partnership in 9 overs and both the batsmen reached their personal half centuries. Pollard scored a 34 ball 70 while Anderson chipped in with a 38 ball 50. Opener Aaron Finch limped off the field while batting and is expected to miss few matches in the tournament. Steve Smith was named as the Player of the Match.