Mumbai Indians post challenging 187/5 against Rajasthan Royals

A late cameo from Ambati Rayudu (53; 27b, 4x4 3x6) ensured that Mumbai Indians reached a challenging 187/5 against Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Wankhede Stadium here on Friday.

Put in to bat, Mumbai Indian got off to a flying start with openers Parthiv Patel and Lendl Simmons striking the ball to all parts of the park scoring at over nine runs per over in the first four.

However, looking to quicken the scoring rate, Parthiv (23 off 14 balls) failed to judge the slower ball, and was caught and bowled by Dhawal Kulkarni in the fifth over. After getting hit for 13 runs in his first over, the local boy came sharp in his second to put the brakes on Mumbai.

But Parthiv's departure didn't put the brakes on the Mumbai scoring as Simmons kept timing the ball well to keep the runs coming.

As the West Indian was looking to take the bowlers from both ends, spinner Ankit Sharma got him leg before in the ninth over, bringing his small but quick-fire innings to an end. Enroute his 31 ball 38, Simmons struck four boundaries and one six.

Unmukt Chand (13 off 14 balls) -- who came at the fall of Parthiv -- also gave away his wicket in the 11th over by hitting a loose shot to mid on for Stuart Binny to take an easy catch off the bowling of Tim Southee.

Incoming batsman Ambati Rayudu gave most of the strike to skipper Rohit Sharma who was looking comfortable in the middle for a perfect captain's knock.

But his innings came to an end when he was caught by Ankit Sharma off the bowling of Kulkarni, who picked up his second wicket.

Rohit, who scored 27 off 21 balls, completed 2,000 runs for Mumbai Indians. The only other batsman to do that is Sachin Tendulkar who has scored 2,334 runs.

For Royals, Kulkarni was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with two for 26.