STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsWhen things go right, the unachievable are achieved with ease, but when nothing is in favor of you, the most ludicrous things happen. This has been the fate of Rajasthan Royals this season. On the back of a scintillating win against Chennai Super Kings, a confident Rajasthan were up against a vulnerable Mumbai Indians out-fit. However, events panned out in polar opposites for Rajasthan.
After being sent into bat by Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma, Rajasthan’s new-found opening pair – Yashaswi Jaiswal and Evin Lewis – were off to a flyer. But, that was for a short time as Jaiswal managed to edge one back to Ishan Kishan behind the stumps off Nathan Coulter-Nile in the fourth over. Lewis soon followed his opening partner as he misjudged the length to be pinned in front. Rajasthan scored 41 runs in the field restrictions. That was it, from there on none of their batsmen got going, including skipper Sanju Samson. Limping and shaking, Rajasthan could post only 90/9 in their full quota of 20 overs. All the nine wickets were shared between Jasprit Bumrah (2/14), Coulter-Nile (4/14) and Jimmy Neesham (3/12) 12 overs.
In an attempt to boost their net run rate, the Mumbai batsmen got going from the word go. Rohit hit a 13-ball 22 before being dismissed and Suryakumar Yadav perished for an eight-ball 13. Kishan in desperate need of runs, came good for them as he stayed unbeaten for his 25-ball half-century. Mumbai chased the target with 70 balls to spare and made a huge progress in their NRR. There were some notable stats from Match 51 and here are a few of those:
String of dot balls
After scoring 26 runs in the first three overs, Rajasthan batsmen lost their way after the powerplay overs. Pace variations and accuracy in lengths by the Mumbai bowlers made it much more difficult for the Rajasthan batsmen to score runs freely. Let alone the boundaries, they struggled to rotate strike. Overall, the Rajasthan batsmen played 66 dot balls in their full quota of 20 overs. Only once have they played more dot balls in an innings and that came against the now-defunct Kochi Tuskers Kerala team in 2011.
Stifled in the middle overs
When batting at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, batsmen need to have a bit of patience as the assessment of the pitch is a tricky one, especially this season. However, Rajasthan batsmen took in a lot to get the hang of it. This is one of the reasons why they scored only 30 runs and lost four wickets in the middle overs. This is the lowest score a team has posted in the middle overs in the first innings of the IPL (completed 20 overs match). More to their agony, Rajasthan batsmen failed to find the fence throughout the nine overs phase. This was the first time in IPL, where a team failed to hit a boundary in the middle overs while batting first (in a completed 20 over match).
Bumrah chokes Rajasthan
Out of the 66 dot balls bowled by Mumbai bowlers, Bumrah, Coulter-Nile (16) and Neesham (13) shared 47. Bumrah led the list with 18 dot balls. This is not only his best in the IPL, but the most for a Mumbai bowler across the years. There are eight instances of a Mumbai bowler bowling 17 dot balls in an innings. In the 2020 IPL, Trent Boult against Chennai Super Kings and Bumrah against Delhi Capitals had 17 dot balls.
Rajasthan’s below par performance
On the back of a feat that no team had achieved this season in the UAE leg – chased the highest target (190) in UAE this season against Chennai – Rajasthan’s inconsistency saw them slump to 90/9 against Mumbai. It is true that the slowness at Sharjah has demanded more out of the batsmen this season. But, not to an extent of what Rajasthan displayed today. Their score of 90/9 is the second lowest total posted by a team after batting full 20 overs in the IPL.
Ro- ‘HIT’ Sharma
The six hitting machine of India, achieved yet another milestone in T20s. With six through a sweep against Shreyas Gopal in the third over, Rohit reached his 400th six in T20s. By virtue of it, he became the first Indian player to hit 400 sixes in T20s. Overall, he is the seventh player to achieve this feat in T20s. In the IPL as well, Rohit leads the list of sixes with 227 among Indian batsmen.
Ishan making a name at young age
It has been a tough season for the young Jharkhand player, but across the years he has played for Mumbai, Kishan has been one of their best young prospects. In today’s match, Kishan reached his 1000th run for Mumbai in the IPL. Accomplishing the landmark at the age of 23 years and 79 days, Kishan became the youngest Mumbai batsman to 1000 runs in the IPL.
A victory by half an innings
As soon as the total was under 100, Mumbai had set their eyes for a huge win and rightfully so, they achieved it. By virtue of a win through 70 balls, Mumbai registered the fourth largest victory by ball remaining in the IPL. The largest margin of win in this category also belongs to Mumbai as they chased a target of 68 with 87 balls remaining against Kolkata in 2008 in Mumbai. Mumbai now have achieved two victories within the first half of the chase. Hence, they became the only team to win with a margin of over 60 balls in a chase twice in the IPL.
