Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals outplayed Mumbai Indians in every department, first with the bat and then with the ball and won by a huge margin of 87 runs at Sawai Man Singh Stadium, Jaipur on Wednseady.
Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane started explosively and ensured that they were ready to put up a big score. Dinesh Yagnik and Brad Hodge played a superb cameo in the end to take Rajasthan Royals to 179 in their 20 overs. James Faulkner picked up three wickets while Ajit Chandila and Stuart Binny picked up couple of wickets each to seal an emphatic win for RR and they continued to be remained unbeaten on home soil.
Rahane was adjudged the player of the match for his 68 off 54 balls.
Chasing down the target of 180 runs, Mumbai Indians started off badly as they lost their opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting in first three overs to Ajit Chandila. Dinesh Karthik kept on playing the role of sheath anchor but kept on running out of partners from the other end. Rohit Sharma and Kevin Pollard departed after scoring 2 and 1 runs respectively.
In came to bat Ambati Rayudu who tried to ressurect the innings with Karthik. But this partnership didn’t last too long and Karthik departed after scoring 30 runs. Rishi Dhawan and Harbhajan Singh also departed quickly in the 14th over. With just three wickets left in hand and huge defeat looming over their head, James Faulkner gave them a night-mare by striking twice in his third over. Meanwhile Kevon Cooper took the wicket of Rayudu who scored 27 runs.
Earlier in the match, Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane played exceptionally well in the power-play as they added 62 runs for the first wicket. Watson kept on dealing in boundaries to keep the scoring rate high and Rahane kept on rotating the strike to keep the flow of runs in check. Pollard dismissed Watson in the 8th over who departed after scoring 31 runs off 25 balls. This dismissal brought a surprise package in Dinesh Yagnik into the centre and he started off well by chipping in with singles and doubles Soon he shifted gears and started dealing in boundaries. He was complimented well by Ajinkya Rahane who was trying to give him as much strike as possible. Harbhajan Singh got Yagnik out in the 14thover of the match. But twist in the tail came in when Brad Hodge played a cameo of 27 runs off just 15 balls and put that humungous total of 179 runs on the board for MI to chase it down. Rahane scored terrific 68 runs off 54 balls and batted till the very end and played his part really well.
By ISN