RR vs MI

RR have had a dream start to the tournament, they are right on top of the points table with 3 wins in 3 games. The orange cap as well as the purple cap sits with them currently as well. So, all is hunky dory for them. Meanwhile, MI need to buckle up and find their mojo back having suffered consecutive defeats now. Tomorrow, the action moves to Delhi with DC set to take on GT. We will be there bringing you all the action as always but for now this is Sourabh Agrawal signing off on behalf of Datrim Ray and the entire team. Cheers!

Yashasvi Jaiswal is the Player of the Match for his unbeaten 77 off just 32 balls, this is what he had to say: I had something in my mind, just three overs of powerplay and as soon as I saw DC (Deepak Chahar) bhai coming in, I thought that I could take him on. When Bumrah bhai came in, I thought maybe Vaibhav can take him on. I kept thinking which bowlers I could take down. (Adapting from format to format) It is not easy but I am tryin my best, always trying to add different shots to my game. I try to play the situation, play according to what the team needs from me. (Batting with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi)  The way he has been playing, it is tremendous. He has been working so hard. I also get motivated with him to develop some shots. We keep having conversations, how we can go, I keep giving him positive messages. He understands his game really well and enjoys it

Riyan Parag (Rajasthan Royals captain): Fells great. The way the boys have showed up every game, can't asky anything more, kudos to them. I have always believed in this team, even from the auction I knew we had a good team, we have a young core and hopefully we continue. Archer's messaging is just to go out and bowl as fast as possible, Nandre as well. He swings the ball beautifully, someone with that much control at 145-150 is just amazing. No words for Yashasvi and Jaiswal. They are number 1 (in terms of opening combination in the tournament). They have age on their side. Vaibhav is just incredible, it is not just slogging as you saw in Ahmedabad he assessed the conditions. Yashasvi has now been doing this for the last 3-4 years now.

Ravi Bishnoi (Purple Cap Holder): " (What has changed since last year) From last year, I worked on the length, and that has paid dividends. Cricket has become a batter's game. Everything has gone against the bowlers. So my aim is to mix things up to keep the batters guessing. Our team bonding has been good, and the boys have been able to jell well. The team is in good form with 3 out of 3 wins on the bounce."

Hardik Pandya (MI Captain): "Anything different you could have done?) We didn't execute the deliveries that we were supposed to. As a bowling group, we were not up to the mark, and the batters went hard. I would not blame our batting for this loss. It was the bowling unit that had to take responsibility. If we would have executed our balls correctly, then that would have made the difference. (Gesture to Sooryavanshi) It's fascinating to see a 15-16-year-old boy play in such a fashion. The kind of fearlessness he has in his batting, I want to wish him all the best. (Thoughts on the next game) Learn from the mistakes; the sun will rise, and prepare well for the next game."

12:29 AM local time and IST: MATCH SUMMARY

Rajasthan Royals (150/3 in 11 overs) beat Mumbai Indians (123/9 in 11 overs) by 27 runs

Yashasvi Jaiswal 77*(32) | Sandeep Sharma 2/26(3)
Sherfane Rutherford 25(8) | Allah Ghazanfar 2/21(2)

RR make it 3 in a row, they reclaim the top spot in the points table with a thoroughly clinical win over MI who slip to back-to-back losses on an evening where there was entertainment galore!

The rain made us wait long hours, it robbed us of a full game but when it ceased the groundsmen did a brilliant job to give us an 11-overs a side contest which lived up and how! A 27-run win in an 11-over game is a big win, a big margin and that reflects the game truly, RR have outplayed the powerful MI lineup and they are proving to be a team to beat

It was all set up by the blitz from RR's dynamic openers, they smashed the MI bowlers black and blue right at the start. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi walloped 80 runs in the first 5 overs, there were sixes galore as the MI bowlers failed to hit their lengths but that is not taking anything away from what the two left-handers did

Sooryavanshi smoked a 14-ball 39 but Jaiswal carried on with the carnage all through the innings and finished with 77 runs to his name and the orange cap on his head taking RR to a huge total of 150.

MI needed something similar to start their chase, however they got just the opposite. Archer, Burger and Sandeep Sharma broke the back of the chase at the very start, MI lost their top-3 inside the first 3 overs and slipped to 22/3.

22/3 soon became 41/4 and then 46/5 as it was Bishnoi's turn to land a double blow, he extended his lead at the top of the purple cap leaderboard. RR were overall excellent as a bowling unit, all 5 bowlers got at least a wicket for RR and they just did not allow MI to breathe

Rutherford did try to infuse some life towards the backend with an 8-ball 25 including a couple of sixes but that was too little too late for the 5-time champs. This win has not only taken RR to the top of the points table but also damaged MI's net run-rate who are now number 7 in the tally with 1 win in 3 games

10.6 Jofra Archer to Jasprit Bumrah, short and too wide outside off. Chahar slaps it away towards point, and they take a single. But that won't matter one bit, as RR have comfortably clinched this fixture by a margin of 27 runs!

10.4 Jofra Archer to Jasprit Bumrah, UP AND OVER! Too short and too wide outside off. Bumrah hangs his bat out and scoops it over backward point for a four. 

10.3 Jofra Archer to Deepak Chahar, length ball pitching around leg stump line. Chahar clears his front leg and drives it down the ground to long on for a single.