Mumbai Indians. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)
The exhilarating action continued in the Indian Premier League 2023 as Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals were up against each other in the historic 1000th game of the IPL on Sunday, April 30 at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bat first at the high-scoring ground.
The captain’s decision was vindicated by RR’s openers Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal who took MI bowling to the cleaners right from the word go. The duo added 72 runs for the first wicket off 43 balls. Buttler failed to get going in his innings and departed after scoring 18 off 19 balls getting out to Piyush Chawla.
However, Jaiswal was unfazed by what was happening at the other end and brought up his second consecutive fifty of the season off just 32 balls. Rajasthan kept on losing wickets from the other end as captain Samson (14 off 10), Jason Holder (11 off 9) and Shimron Hetmyer (8 off 9) all departed cheaply.
Jaiswal took the innings forward with his scintillating knock and brought up his first IPL hundred off just 53 balls. The 21-year-old was finally dismissed in the last over by Arshad Khan as he departed after scoring a splendid 124 off 64 balls smashing 16 fours and eight sixes in his innings. Courtesy of his breathtaking knock, RR posted a massive total of 212/7 in the first innings.
In reply, Mumbai didn’t get off the best of the starts as they lost their captain and ‘birthday boy’ Rohit Sharma in the second over itself. After the early wicket, Ishan Kishan (28 off 23) and Cameron Green (44 off 26) stabilized the innings with their 62-run stand off 38 balls. However, both fell prey to Ravichandran Ashwin in the ninth and 11th over respectively.
Tim David’s blitzkrieg helps MI chase record total at Wankhede Stadium
Following their dismissals, Suryakumar Yadav (55 off 29) and Tilak Verma took the innings forward with their 51-run stand off 30 balls. Their partnership was broken by Sandeep Sharma’s excellence in the field who took an unbelievable catch in the 16th over at short fine leg to send Suryakumar back to the pavilion.
MI further required 61 to win off the last 26 balls with Tim David and Tilak Varma at the crease. David came set from the pavilion itself and smacked 45* off 14 balls to help MI win the match with three balls to spare. Varma also remained unbeaten on 29* off 21 balls as MI chased down the target of 213 in 19.3 overs to register their fourth win of the season.