In a battle of blues, the players who travelled from Jaipur to Wankhede walks back to the home with a sweet victory. The collective bowling and fielding effort followed by yet another match-defining knock from Jos Buttler sealed the deal for Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians (MI) join Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to hope for other results go in their side.
Mumbai Indians – Jofra Archer and Co pull it back after Surya-Lewis show:
Initially, it was Ajinkya Rahane, who won the toss and asked the home side to set the target. Accepting the challenge, Mumbai openers Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis batted superbly to find the fence often than not.
Though Royals bowlers created chances, fielders were not at all interested in taking those.
Riding on the drop catches, both the openers smashed beautifully to knock it out at a greater run-rate.
When things looked quite well for the home side then comes the thrilling over for Rajasthan as Jofra Archer sent Suryakumar and Rohit Sharma in back to back deliveries when Unadkat took two stunners on a trot.
However, Evin Lewis took the onus on him and played it in his own style to get some quick runs.
During the course, he bagged yet another fifty but failed to carry on as Kulkarni got better off him. He was quickly followed by Ishan Kishan, who couldn’t get the elevation right at mid-wicket.
It was once again Hardik Pandya, who brought Indians back into the game by knocking some quick runs. His 36-run knock helped Mumbai to post a competitive 168 runs on the board.
Archer was the pick of bowlers for Rajasthan with two wickets to his name at the expense of 16 runs while Stokes also bagged a couple.
Quick read: IPL 2018: 47th Match, MI vs RR – Rajasthan Royals Players Rating
Rajasthan Royals – Jos Buttler scripts yet another masterful chase:
In reply to the chase, Rajasthan got an initial jolt as Jasprit Bumrah found the edge of Ishan Kishan. But, the skipper Rahane and the in-form batsman, Jos Buttler stitched a beautiful 95-run partnership to push home side on the back foot.
In search of quick runs and acquiring Net-Run-Rate, Rahane lost his wicket when Hardik Pandya got better off him.
However, it worked as a blessing in disguise for the team as Sanju Samson unleased himself on Mumbai bowlers. He smacked a nice little cameo knock of 26 runs at the end.
Buttler, who is playing like a dream after opening the innings registered yet another unbeaten knock in the chase. He scored 94* off 53 balls by numbering nine fours and five sixes to receive the second Man of the Match on the trot.
During the course of his knock for Rajasthan Royals, Buttler dusted off many records.
Brief Scores:
MI – 168/6; Lewis 60, Surya Kumar 38; Archer 2/16, Stokes 2/26
RR – 171/3; Buttler 94*, Rahane 37; Hardik 2/52