Indian Premier League: Sandeep Sharma’s brilliant haul of 5-18 halted Mumbai Indians (MI) to 179/9, despite Tilak Varma’s half-century, against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 38 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Monday.
Opting to bat first on a spin-friendly pitch, Rajasthan bowler Trent Boult struck early in the first over after getting stuck for a boundary by Rohit Sharma through a leading edge. Boult dismissed Rohit on the score of six with a full-length delivery shaping in as the former Mumbai Indians skipper top-edged it straight in the air for a good diving catch to Sanju Samson. It was the 26th time that Boult struck in the first over of the Power-play.
It was a poor start for Mumbai, as both openers departed in the space of nine balls. Sandeep Sharma aimed full, and Ishan Kishan, looking to utilise the swing on offer, handed the ball straight through to keeper Samson.
Suryakumar Yadav, after a series of boundaries against Boult, got out to Sandeep’s scrambled-seam delivery after flicking it straight to mid-wicket. Suryakumar got out on 10 runs in eight deliveries.
Mumbai Indians only managed to put up a score of 45/3 in the Power-play, thanks to Mohammad Nabi’s 18 runs that he scored with a pulled six over square-leg and two fours through the covers in Avesh Khan’s first over.
Rajasthan made another first-over strike as champion bowler Yuzvendra Chahal reached the milestone of 200 wickets–first bowler in the history of IPL. Chahal’s third ball gripped on a good length as Mohammad Nabi closed the face on the front foot, and it was a simple lob catch back into his waiting hands that brought up his 200th IPL wicket. Only two other men have previously reached 200 wickets in a T20 competition: Danny Briggs (219) and Samit Patel (208), both in England’s T20 Blast. Mumbai Indians were 72 for 4 after 10 overs.
Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera rebuilt the innings with a steady stand of 68 runs in 41 balls as Ravichandran Ashwin completed his four overs for 31 runs and went wicketless once more having claimed just one in the tournament to date. Tilak Varma completed his fifty in 38 balls — and at 21 years and 166 balls, he was the third youngest to 1000 IPL runs.
Chahal came back with his third over of his spell and was taken into remand as Wadhera and Tilak hammered him for 20 runs (the most expensive of the inning). After Tilak’s first ball six, Wadhera took it upon himself to lead the celebrations with two more sixes in a very significant over. Mumbai were 151 for 4 after 16 overs.
Boult came back into attack for his last over of the spell and broke the big partnership of 99 runs between Wadhera and Verma. It was an attempted uppercut from Wadhera, looking to reach his own fifty, but the returning Trent Boult outfoxed him with the slower short ball.
Nehal Wadhera got out scoring 49 in 24 deliveries. It was a very timely strike from Avesh Khan, who aimed full and straight with Hardik Pandya shuffling to the off-side and nailed him plumb in front with the fast full-toss. Mumbai Indians’ captain got out for a run-a-ball 10.
It was a superb over from Avesh as just six runs came from it. Avesh nailed his length perfectly, and one ball later, Varma holed out to deep mid-on on the first ball of Sandeep’s final over. Varma got out after scoring 65 in 45 deliveries. Gerald Coetzee then swung his bat through his first ball to pick out Shimron Hetmyer and got out on a golden duck.
Tim David finally got the strike back with three balls remaining, but his first swing was a miscue, and his second holed out to deep midwicket. Sandeep closed the over with minimal damage and returned with the stunning figures of 5-18–the best by an Indian bowler for the Royals, and on his return from injury too. Rajasthan restricted Mumbai to 179/9 after just nine runs came in the final two overs.
Brief score:
Mumbai Indians 179/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 65, Nehal Wadhera 49; Sandeep Sharma 5-18, Trent Boult 2-32) against Rajasthan Royals