IPL 2018: RR beat Mumbai Indians in yet another nail-biter; Gowtham shines

Krishnappa Gowtham stood tall at one end, even as wickets kept falling at the other to pull off a stunner; a six off the fourth ball of Hardik Pandya's last over sealed things in favour of RR

A continuing saga of misfortunes in the latest season of Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) continued to dog Mumbai Indians, as the Rohit-Sharma led team, defending its title, was beaten narrowly in yet another stunner on Sunday. Batting first, they managed to score a modest 167, despite some great starts up the order, thanks to some irresponsible cricket by the middle-order batsmen.
 
Chasing 168, Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals lost openers Rahul Tripathi and Rahane early and they seemed to be struggling at 28 for 2 at one stage, but Sanju Samson and Ben Stokes built a crucial 72-run partnership for the third wicket to move things their way.
 
While Samson scored a classy 52 off 39 balls, Stokes’ departure at 40 off 20 balls was followed by some quick dismissals in the latter half of the game – three wickets fell in the space of 5 balls, all when the team score was 125. It seemed, Rajasthan were also going the Mumbai way in losing the plot after building a firm foundation, but Krishnappa Gowtham, batting at number 7 turned things around by stepping up his game and seeing the team through with a six off the fourth ball of the final over,bowled by Hardik Pandya. He smashed 33 runs off 11 balls to make sure Rajasthan Royals (RR) did not lose at their fortress of Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur: They defeated Mumbai by 3 wickets to move up in the Vivo IPL points table. 

Earlier in the match, Mumbai Indians had looked primed to score over 200, but they lost the plot, with wickets falling very quickly. In the last 6 overs, they managed to add only 37 runs and lose 6 wickets. Mumbai opener Evin Lewis scored a golden duck, but Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav stabilised the innings for Mumbai Indians, hammering Rajasthan Royals bowlers. Dhawal Kulkarni was the man who dismissed Lewis. Mumbai was 43-1 after the powerplay. The star of Rajasthan Royals' bowling was Jofra Archer, who picked up 3 wickets and gave away only 22 runs. 

ALSO READ: IPL 2018: How Mumbai Indians snatched defeat from jaws of victory

Rajasthan Royals innings update: Over by over

Rajasthan Royals Playing XI: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Heinrich Klaasen, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w), Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Shreyas Gopal, Jaydev Unadkat. Change: Kulkarni in for Binny, Archer in for Laughlin.

Over 1: Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi to open, Mitchell McClenaghan to open the bowling. Dot ball. Rahane takes a single. Bad line, Rahul flicks for four. Yes no yes no, safe in the end. Down the leg, wide. Straight drive, just for one. RR: 9-0

Over 2: Jasprit Bumrah into the attack. Dealing in singles. Just four from the over. RR: 13-0.

Over 3: Krunal Pandya is the new bowler. Single. Tripathi went for 9. Soft dismissal. Sanju Samson is the new batsman. Dot ball. Samson hits a four. Nicely driven for three. Dot ball. RR: 21-1

Over 4: Mustafizur Rehman is the bowler. Two dots. Samson wacks it for four. Nicely driven for one. Dot ball. RR: 28-1

Over 5: Pandya to continue, Single. Another one. Rahane drives for four. Single to end the over. RR: 36-1

Over 6: Michell to continue. Double and two dots. Rahane hits and is caught. Ben Stokes comes in. Sanson plays it well for four. RR: 43-2

Over 7: Mayank Markande is the new bowler. Stokes hits him for four. ten from the over. RR: 53-2

Over 8: Mustafizur continues. Single. Huge appeal for LBW. reviewed, Turned down. Tight line. Single. RR: 58-2

Over 9: Marakande to Samson, dot ball.Samson took a single of the next ball. Ben Stokes took a double off the third ball followed by a single. Another dot and single by Samson to end the over. RR 63/2

Over 10: Hardik Pandya to Samson, short ball pulled for a single. Another single of the 2nd ball. 3rd single of the over. Ben Stokes took a single of the 4th ball. Wide ball. Single of the 5th ball. Single to end the over. RR 70/2

Over 11: McClenaghan to Stokes, 2 runs, single taken. Double of the third ball. single taken. Super slow delivery went for six in the fine leg region followed by 4 in the extra cover region. RR 86/2

Over 12: Quick doubles. Impressive running. ten from the over. RR: 96-2

Over 13: Bumrah has the ball. Single. Another one. Decent ball. Dot. Single taken. Very good double. 100 up for Rajasthan. RR: 101-2

Over 14: Mustafizur to continue. In the air, but just for two. Stokes hits a four on the off side. lovely shot just for one. Single taken. RR: 110-2

Over 15: Hardik Pandya comes in, and Ben Stokes is bowled. Gone for 40 from 27. Jos Butler comes in. Off the mark with one. Cracking shot by Samson, four runs. In the air, did not carry. Double. RR: 118-3

Over 16: Sanju takes a double and here is his 50. One run. Single to Butler. Single to Sanju. Dot ball. RR: 124-3

Over 17: Bumrah to bowl. One run. Samson is gone, he hit it high in the air. Gone for 52.Klaasen is the new man in. Bowled him, two in two. Bumrah is on fire. Jofra Archer survives the hat-trick ball. Dot, what great bowling. Dot. RR: 125-5

Over 18: Mustafizur to continue, Klaasen gives his wicket, Gowtham comes in, Single. Beamer! Just one on the free hit. In the air, lands safely. Six! Gowtham clears the rope. Lucky four. RR: 140-6

Over 19: Bumrah is back. Wacked for four! Brilliant double. NO BALL. Just two of the free hit. Here is another four.Swing and a miss. Gone for four. RR 158-6

Over 20: Hardik Pandya comes in. Archer is gone. Unadkat is in. Over in the in-field, Four runs. Team meeting for Mumbai. Dot ball. Gowtham hits a six, he is the hero

 

Rajasthan Royals innings analysis after 20 overs

Chasing the target of 168 runs, Rahul Tripathi and Ajinkya Rahane opened the innings for Rajasthan Royals. Mitchell McClenaghan came to bowl the first over and gave away 9 runs as Tripathi hit the 3rd of the over straight down the ground for four. Jasprit Bumrah came to bowl the 2nd over and gave only 4 runs. Rohit Sharma asked Krunal Pandya to bowl the 3rd over and he delivered for his skipper as he got the wicket of Rahul Tripathi of the 2nd ball and provides first breakthrough for Mumbai Indians. Sanju Samson came to the crease after the dismissal of Tripathi and hit a four and took 3 runs in the remaining 4 balls of the over. Mustafizur Rahman came to bowl the 4th over and gave away 6 runs in his first over. Krunal continued from the other end and Rajasthan Royals batsmen keep ticking singles before Rahane hit the 5th ball of the over for four, a classic cover drive. McClenaghan came to bowl the 6th over and gave two runs of the first ball and bowled two dot balls before taking the wicket of captain Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 14 runs in 17 balls while trying to get a boundary. Ben Stokes came to the crease after the wicket of Rahane. Samson hit the last ball of the powerplay for four in the third-man region. After the end of the powerplay, Rajasthan Royals was 43 runs for 2 wickets with Ben Stokes (1 run off 1 ball) and Sanju Samson (18 runs off 10 balls) were at the crease. RR needed 125 runs from 14 overs with a required run rate of 8.92 rpo.

Mayank Marakande came to bowl the 7th over and Ben Stokes slog-swept the 2nd ball for 4 in the mid-wicket region as RR batsmen scored 10 runs in the Marakande’s first over. Mustafizur Rahman came to bowl the 8th over of the innings and Samson took a single off the first ball, followed by a poor review by the Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma who looked desperate to get a wicket. Rajasthan Royals’ batsmen were looking to build a partnership as they were not going for big shots but looking for quick double and singles. Rahman gave 5 runs in his 2nd over. Marakande came to bowl the 9th over and gave only 5 runs. Hardik Pandya came to bowl the 10th over and gave 7 runs as Samson and Stokes were dealing in singles and double a very intelligent batting by the two. McClenaghan came to bowl the 11th over and gave 6 runs of the first 4 balls followed by a six of a super slow delivery and a four in the extra cover region. Krunal Pandya came to bowl the 12th and took 10 runs off it. Desperate Mumbai Indian captain Rohit asked Bumrah to bowl the 13th over. Bumrah kept the things tight and gave 5 runs of the 5th RR reached the 100-run mark. The required run-rate was nearing 10 and RR need to hit some big shot

Mustafizur Rahman came to bowl the 14th over and Ben Stokes took 2 runs off the first ball and muscled the next ball for 4 over the extra cover. RR batsmen were playing sensibly as they took single and pushing for doubles after getting 6 of the first two balls. Hardik Pandya came to bowl the 15th over and got the breakthrough for Mumbai Indians as he bowled Ben Stokes from around his legs of the first ball. Ben Stokes scored 40 runs off 27 balls with a strike rate of 148.14. Jos Butler came to the crease after the dismissal of Stokes. Samson crunched the 3rd ball for four in the mid-wicket region to get the orange cap and took a single off the next ball. After the end of 15th over Rajasthan, Royals needed50 runs from 30 balls with a required run-rate of 10 rpo

Krunal Pandya came to bowl the 16th over and Samson took a double of the first ball to complete his half-century. Rajasthan Royals batsmen took single and double to collect 6 runs of the Krunal’s last over. Rajasthan needed 44 runs from 24 balls and MI captain Rohit Sharma asked Bumrah to bowl the 17th over and yes, he delivered for Mumbai Indians as he took the wicket of Samson (52 runs off 39 balls) of slower ball, followed by Jos Butler as he clean bowled him. Two new batsmen Jofra Archer and Heinrich Klassen were at the crease. Bumrah gave away only one run and took two precious wickets as RR needed 43 runs from 18 balls with a required rate of 14.33. Mustafizur Rahman came to bowl the 18th over and took the wicket of Klassen, who went of golden duck, a classic collapse by Rajasthan. Gowtham came to the crease after the wicket of Klassen. Mustafizur gave away 5 runs of the first 4 balls and hit for a six over long-on followed by a four in the third man region. RR needed 28 runs in 12 balls. Bumrah came to bowl the 19th over and Jofra Archer hit the first ball for four in the point region for four followed by a double from the long-on. Third ball and this was a no ball but Gowtham failed to get bat on it and took 2 leg byes. Smoked the next ball for 4 in the point region. Gowtham finished the over with a four in square leg region. 18 runs from the Bumrah’s last over. 10 needed in the last over of the innings. Jofra Archer on the strike and Hardik Pandya came to bowl the 20th over and took the wicket of dangerous Archer as he gets the top edge of the short ball. A full Yorker outside the off stump Gowtham sliced it over the short third man region for four and won the game for Rajasthan Royals hitting a six over deep Mid-wicket.

Mumbai Indians innings update: Over by over

Mumbai Indians Playing XI: Suryakumar Yadav, Evin Lewis, Ishan Kishan(w), Rohit Sharma(c), Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya, Mitchell McClenaghan, Mayank Markande, Jasprit Bumrah, Mustafizur Rahman

Over 1: Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis to open for Mumbai Indians. Dhawal Kulkarni to bowl for Rajasthan Royals. Dot to start off with. It almost carried. First runs on the board. Evin Lewis gets a golden duck, what a beauty. Clean bowled. Ishan Kishan is the new man in. Good ball. MI 1-1

Over 2: Gowtham is into the attack. Misfiled, one run. Quick singles takes Kishan off the mark. Swing and a miss. Just one. MI 4-1.

Over 3: Kulkarni to continue. Yadav hits it for huge six. Single. Dot ball to KIshan. Kishan pulls, falls just short. MI 11-1

Over 4: Debutant Jofra Archer into the attack. One run. Kishan couldn't get hold of it. Very quick single. Suryakumar hit where he would hate. Four runs. Dot ball. MI: 17-1

Over 5: Kulkarni to continue. Dot ball. Ishan dances down the track and hits a huge six. Driven for one. SuryaKumar Yadav flicks, and what a great use of wrists, six runs. Single. Kishan cuts and finds the gap. MI: 35-1

Over 6: Jaydev Unadkat is the new bowler. Yadav flicks and greets Unadkat with a four. Mix-up, but safe single in the end. Dot ball. Cheeky single. Another quick single. Single to end; MI: 42-1

Over 7: Gowtham to continue. Singles coming easily. Suryakumar connects. Four runs. MI 51-1

Over 8: Shreyas Gopal comes in. Nine runs from the over already. Single. MI 64-1

Over 9: Ben Stokes comes into the attack. Onto the pads,  no run. Kishan uses the angle and hits it over the fence, for six. Easy single to Kishan. Double to Suryakumar. Easy single. MI: 75-1

Over 10: Too wide on the leg side, Kishan puts it away for four. 50 for Suryakumar Yadav with a six. Single. Kishan finishes with a huge six. MI: 93-1

Over 11: Ben Stokes continues, Suryakumar hits in the air, Gowtham drops. Swing and a miss. MI: 104-1

Over 12: Gowtham continues. Dot ball. Single. Another single. Cut, no deep third man, gone for four. Another single.Kishan reverse sweeps for single, Keeps strike. MI: 112-1

Over 13: Archer is back. Kishan goes inside out to greet Jofra with a four. Single. Cheeky cut by Yadav, one run. Single, 50 up for Ishan. MI: 121-1

Over 14: Unadkat is back. Kishan hits well, two runs. Swings and misses. Ishan pulls towards fine leg, pathetic mis-field, four runs. Straight to the fielder. Again, swing and a miss. Single. MI: 129-1

Over 15: Dhawal Kulkarni is back, Yadav sweeps from outside the off, just one. Kishan tries to scoop, high in the air, and Ishan Kishan is out. Kishan gone for 58. Pollard is the new man in. Yadav takes a single. Pollard blocks it. Single to Pollard. Wide ball. Wide again. Single to end. MI: 135-2

Over 16: Unadkat continues. Swing and a miss. Suryakumar Yadav hits it very high in the air. Jos Butler takes it. Yadav gone for 72. Rohit Sharma is the new man in. Pollard takes a single. Rohit Sharma is run out. Flurry of wickets. Krunal Pandya is in. Dot ball. MI: 137-4

Over 17: Archer is back. bouncer. Now a slower bouncer. Pollard plays it all over. Onto the pads. Cut, just one.

Over 18: Unadkat continues, Krunal hits a four. Single. Pollard hits a straight six. Just one. Another single to Krunal. MI: 154-4

Over 19: Jofra to bowl. Krunal hits in the air, taken. Krunal goes for 7. Pollard hit very hard back to Jofra, dropped, it was hit very hard, one run. Hardik hits Four, straight down the ground. Bowled him, Hardik is gone. Mitchell McClenaghan is the new man in. Bowled him, What a brilliant yorker. He is on a Hat-trick. Mayank Markande to face. Survives. 

Over 20: Pollard to face the last over. Stokes to bowl. Brilliant yorker. In the air, safe. Swing and a miss. Beamer. No ball, free hit, warning. Pollard get four. Pollard moves towards leg stump, Stokes follows him. MI: 167-7

Mumbai Indians innings analysis after 20 overs

Mumbai Indians’ captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first. Surya Kumar Yadav and Evin Lewis came to open the innings for MI while Dhawal Kulkarni came to bowl the first over and took the wicket of Evin Lewis, it’s a first ball duck for Lewis as Kulkarni gave one run in his first over. Gowtham came to bowl the 2nd over of the innings and gave only 3 runs. Brilliant bowling by the RR bowlers. Dhawal Kulkarni continued from the other end and Yadav greeted him with a six over the mid-on. Kulkarni pulled it back for RR as he gave only one run off the last 5 balls. Jofery Archer came to bowl the 4th over and gave 6 runs in his debut over of the IPL 2018. Kulkarni came to bowl his third over of the innings and Ishan Kishan hit him all across the ground to collect 18 runs of the 5th over of the innings and collected 18 runs. Unadkat came to bowl the last over of the powerplay and Yadav hit the first ball of the over for four what a brilliant batting. In the last 5 balls, Unadkat gave only 4 runs as MI batsmen took 4 singles of the last 5 balls. After the power play, Mumbai Indians scored 63 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. Ishan Kishan (15 runs off 16 balls) and Surya Kumar Yadav (27 runs off 19 balls)

Gowtham came to bowl the 7th over and 5 runs of the first 5 balls before hit for a four of the last ball of the over. Shreyas Gopal came to bowl the 8th over and gave 12 runs as MI batsmen looked to score some quick runs. Ben Stokes came bowl the 9th over of the innings and youngsters Ishan Kishan flicked Stokes 2nd ball for 6 in the deep square leg region and took a single of the next ball brilliant batting by Ishan Kishan. The youngster duo collected 11 runs of the Stokes’ first over. After the end of 10 overs Mumbai Indians scored 75 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. Ishan Kishan (29 runs off 25 balls) and SuryaKumar Yadav (44 runs off 29 balls).

Gowtham came to bowl the 7th over and 5 runs of the first 5 balls before hit for a four of the last ball of the over. Shreyas Gopal came to bowl the 8th over and gave 12 runs as MI batsmen looked to score some quick runs. Ben Stokes came bowl the 9th over of the innings and youngsters Ishan Kishan flicked Stokes 2nd ball for 6 in the deep square leg region and took a single of the next ball brilliant batting by Ishan Kishan. The youngster duo collected 11 runs of the Stokes’ first over. Shreyas Gopal came to bowl the 10th over and Kishan hit a brilliant sweep shot for four and took a single of the next ball. Surya Kumar Yadav hit a classic inside-out shot for a six over the cover region and completes his fifty while Kishan hit the last ball of the over for 6 over the mid-wicket boundary.
 

After the end of 10 overs Mumbai Indians scored 75 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. Ishan Kishan (40 runs off 29 balls) and Surya Kumar Yadav (51 runs off 30 balls).

Ben Stokes came to bowl the 11th over and Yadav clipped the first ball behind square, followed by a slower ball and Gowtham dropped it. RR needed to break the partnership but very poor fielding by the Gowtham as MI collected 11 runs of the over. The 100-run partnership for between Ishan Kishan and Surya Kumar Yadav. Gowtham came to bowl the 12th over and gave 3 runs in the first ball before hit for a boundary of the 4th ball as Mumbai Indians collected 8 runs of it. Ishan and Yadav scoring at least one boundary every over to keep the run-rate at 9 runs per over. Jofra Archer came to bowl the 13th over and Kishan greeted him with a four over mid-on. An intelligent batting by the two batsmen as they are playing risk-free shots. Ishan Kishan took a single of the 5th ball to reach his half-century. After the end of the 13th over Mumbai Indians was 121 for 1 with Surya Kumar Yadav (69 runs off 42 balls) and Ishan Kishan (50 runs off 35 balls) on the crease. 

Ben Stokes came to bowl the 11th over and Yadav clipped the first ball behind square, followed by a slower ball and Gowtham dropped it. RR needed to break the partnership but very poor fielding by the Gowtham as MI collected 11 runs of the over. The 100-run partnership for between Ishan Kishan and Surya Kumar Yadav. Gowtham came to bowl the 12th over and gave 3 runs in the first ball before hit for a boundary of the 4th ball as Mumbai Indians collected 8 runs of it. Ishan and Yadav scoring at least one boundary every over to keep the run-rate at 9 runs per over. Jofra Archer came to bowl the 13th over and Kishan greeted him with a four over mid-on. An intelligent batting by the two batsmen as they are playing risk-free shots. Ishan Kishan took a single of the 5th ball to reach his half-century. After the end of the 13th over Mumbai Indians was 121 for 1 with Surya Kumar Yadav (69 runs off 42 balls) and Ishan Kishan (50 runs off 35 balls) on the creJaydev Unadkat came to bowl the 14th over of the innings and Kishan cut the first ball for double in the point region. Kishan hit the 3rs ball of the over for 4 in the fine region as again a miss field by RR fielder and this time it was Shreyas Gopal. Unadkat gave away 8 runs in his 2nd over as Mumbai Indians was scoring at 9.21 runs per over. Dhawal Kulkarni came to bowl the 15th over and Surya Kumar Yadav took a single of the first ball. Dhawal Kulkarni took the wicket of Ishan Kishan as he tried to a bit more innovative and got perished. Ishan Kishan scored 58 runs off 42 balls with a strike rate of 138.09, he hit 4 fours and and 3 gigantic sixes. Kieron Pollard came to the crease after the dismissal of Ishan Kishan. Kulkarni gave 5 runs in his last over. He finished his full quota of overs with a bowling figure of 4-0-32-2. Unadkat came to bowl the 16th over and took the wicket of Surya Kumar Yadav, who failed to hit the ball for big runs in last 3 overs and got perished in the pursue of big shot. Surya Kumar Yadav scored 72 runs off 47 balls with a strike rate of 153.19. Rohit Sharma came to the crease after the dismissal of Yadav and got run-out of the first ball while trying to take a quick single. A brilliant under-arm flick by Rahane got the wicket of Rohit Sharma. Krunal Pandya came to the crease after the horrific run-out of Rohit Sharm, who got out without scoring. Jofra Archer came to bowl the 17th over and bowled two dot balls of the first two followed by a brilliant slower ball with a speed of 104kmph.

After the end of the 17th over Mumbai Indians was 141 runs for 4. Pollard ( 6 runs off 9 balls) and Krunal (1 run off 2 balls) were at the creasease. 

Jaydev Unadkat came to bowl the 18th over and Krunal Pandya cut the first ball for 4 in the point region and took a single off the second ball. Pollard hit the 3rd ball for 6 over the long-on boundary. The slower ball was working for Unadkat as the Mumbai Indians batsmen weren’t able to hit a big shot. Unadkat finished the 18th ball with a dot ball as he gave away 13 runs of it. Jofra Archer came to bowl the 19th over and took the wicket of Krunal Pandya of the knuckleball. Hardik Pandya came to bat after the wicket of Krunal and hit the first ball he faced for a four straight down the ground and got bowled off the next ball. McClenaghan came to bat and bowled a brilliant Yorker. And Here arrives the Big Bash star Jofra Archer, a brilliant death bowler, as he finishes off his full quota of overs with the bowling figures of 4-0-23-3. A strong comeback by Rajasthan Royals as their bowler pulled it back in the last 5 overs. They restricted Mumbai Indians from 135/2 to 167/7. Thanks to Jofra Archer.

How things stood before the match

Rajasthan Royals, it seemed, had a lot to worry about. They started their IPL 2018 campaign on a poor note, with Sunrisers Hyderabad hammering them by 9 wickets in the opening game. They, however, gained some momentum and registered two back-to-back wins against Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Later, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings outclassed them by seven wickets and 64 runs, respectively. In the two previous matches, neither Rajasthan's batsmen nor their bowlers had delivered. Against KKR, they could post only 160 on the board and allowed the visitors to chase down the target with ease. Against CSK, Rajasthan bowlers were taken to cleaners by veteran Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, who blasted a 106 off 57 deliveries. Rajasthan then was bowled out for 140, with no one, barring Ben Stokes (45) offering any resistance. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane had looked good but had not been converting good starts into big scores. Sanju Samson, Stokes and Rahul Tripathi had been inconsistent.

The home team was missing its mentor, the legendary Shane Warne, who had gone back to Australia to fulfil some commitments.
 
While two-time champions Mumbai Indians had been off to a horrible start of the season, suffering three successive defeats before skipper Rohit Sharma came to the team's rescue with a blazing 94 against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The 46-run drubbing of RCB raised the morale of the players, and Mumbai Indians were seeking a similar outing against Rajasthan Royals. Rohit Sharma was the reason behind the team breaking its run of losses, and he was again seen as a key man for Mumbai Indians. West Indian Evin Lewis also had played his part with bat in the previous match, scoring 65, and then there were the likes of Kieron Pollard and the Pandya brothers - Hardik and Krunal. That Pollard had recovered from an injury was understood to be good news for MI. Another positive development was Hardik's 5-ball 17 in the previous game. MI's bowlers too were feeling confident after withstanding the firepower of the likes of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.