Impact Substitute Naman Dhir: LIghtening struck thrice on Monday evening as Trent Boult destroyed Mumbai Indians in their first home match, claiming three wickets in four deliveries as the five-time champions were restricted to 125/9 in 20 overs against Rajasthan in Match 14 of the Indian Premier League 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.The Boult from New Zealand used the conditions perfectly, moved the ball on both sides and claimed Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis for first-ball ducks as he reduced Mumbai Indians to 14/3 in the third over after Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to field first. The 34-year-old Boult claimed 3-15 in his three overs before ending his quota with 3-22.
Yuzvendra Chahal then became Mumbai Indians’ tormentor as he claimed 3-11 in four brilliant overs as Mumbai Indians slumped to 111/7 by the end of the 16th over.
This was Mumbai Indians’ third-lowest total against Rajasthan Royals in IPL after they scored 92 against them in 2013.
With the home crowd repeatedly booing skipper Hardik Pandya, Mumbai Indians got off to a poor start and were struggling at 30/4 at the end of the first five overs on a pitch that was expected to support the batters. New Zealand pacer Trest Boult was the wrecker-in-chief as he claimed three of those four wickets.
Rohit Sharma was out for a first-ball duck as Boult landed a scrambled seam delivery at fullish length around off-stump, which opened up Rohit’s defence and took the outside edge behind to Sanju Samson. That was off the fifth ball of the opening over and Mumbai Indians were 1/1. This was the 17th duck for Rohit Sharma in 17 editions of the IPL and he now shares the dubious record with Dinesh Karthik.
It became 1/2 when Impact Substitute Naman Dhir was trapped lbw off the first delivery he faced off Boult. The ball landed on a length and moved in a little bit and sneaked through the gap between bat and pad. Dhir reviewed the decision but DRS came in favour of the bowler as Hawk-eye should the ball would have clipped the leg-stump.
Ishan Kishan survived the hat-trick ball and scored a single but Boult got his third wicket of the Power play and 100th overall as he sent back Dewald Brevis for a first-ball duck, holing out to short third-man with a loose shot. Boult had picked three wickets off four deliveries and was breathing fire. Brevis came in as the earliest Impact Substitute in the second over and went back as early as possible without bothering the scorer.
Ishan Kishan deposited the first delivery he faced from Nandre Burger over the long-on boundary for a big six and four balls later gloved a rising delivery into his body past keeper Samson for a four.
Burger had the last laugh in the fourth over and the South African pacer after Kishan had creamed him through cover to the boundary sent back Kishan with a delivery that seamed away off the deck and took the edge back to Samson. Ishan Kishan scored 16 off 14 balls, hitting two boundaries and one six. Mumbai Indians slumped to 20/4 in the fourth over and were in deep trouble.
Skipper Hardik Pandya, who was booed during the toss, along with Tilak Varma raised 56 runs for the fifth wicket as they tried to repair the innings.
Pandya, who started with three dot-balls off Burger, hammered the South African pacer over point in the sixth over and then walked into the delivery to thump it the cover-point boundary on the next delivery for back-to-back fours. He ended the over by dancing down the pitch and slamming it over mid-on for his third four of the sixth over. It was the most expensive over for RR thus far as it cost them 16 runs.
Hardik struck Avesh Khan for a boundary Ravichandran Ashwin. Chahal had his revenge as he had the Mumbai Indians skipper holing out to long-on. Chahal, who had nearly got Pandya on the previous delivery in the 10th over as the ball missed the off-stump by a whisker, sent down a flattish delivery around the middle and leg and Pandya tried to deposit him into the stands but got it off the bottom part of the bat and was out for 32 off 21 balls, hitting six boundaries in all.
Piyush Chawla was out to Avesh Khan for three and when Tilak Varma, who was holding one end up, was out for 32 off 29 balls, Mumbai Indians were down to 95/7 and in deep woods. Varma, who mostly scored through singles and twos, hammered Boult for a six in the fifth over as the pacer erred in line with a fullish delivery down the leg and Varma helped it over the boundary.
He also hooked Avesh Khan over the fence when the pacer tried to bounce him. But just when it looked like he would hog the strike and help Mumbai Indians to a big score with trademark blazing shots, Chahal had him reaching out to a wide googly and the batter ballooned an edge to Ashwin at short third-man.
Mumbai were 100/7 in the 15h over and the writing was clear on the wall. They eventually managed 125 but can take hope from the fact that Sunrisers Hyderabad had defended 118 against them in 2018, which is the lowest total successfully defended at the Wankhede.
Brief scores:
Mumbai Indians 125/9 in 20 overs (Hardik Pandya 34, Tilak Varma 32; Yuzvendra Chahal 3-11, Tret Boult 3-22, Nandre Burger 2-32) against Rajasthan Royals.
