TALKING POINTS
Follow UsMinutes before the start of play, Rajasthan Royals and the Mumbai Indians, along with fans across the globe, paid a special tribute to one of the legends of world cricket and the first Royal, Shane Warne.
With a plethora of emotions and a tad bit of sadness, the focus quickly shifted to live-action as the five-time champions set foot at the DY Patil stadium, aiming to get off the mark.
In the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League, Warne was the catalyst behind Rajasthan clinching the coveted trophy. However, tonight was a lot different as they were up against a side bruised after eight successive defeats in the tournament.
Amidst the chaos and uncertainties surrounding the ideal combination of the side in the first eight games, Mumbai opted to make two changes to their playing XI.
While they handed a debut to an unknown prodigy in Kumar Kartikeya, Mumbai also drafted in Tim David in the playing XI, much to the surprise of all the fans.
And four hours later, the team presented their skipper, Rohit Sharma, with a perfect birthday gift as they produced a near-perfect game to get over the line with five wickets to spare and crawl their way out of the rut.
With Mumbai finally managing to record a win and get smiles back on their ardent supporters, we take a look at some of the talking points from this high-voltage clash that determined the fortunes of the game.
Welcome to the big stage, Kumar Kartikeya
Over the years, Mumbai Indians are known to unearth local talent, and this edition of the extravaganza is no different. After struggling to find the ideal bowling attack, the team management handed a debut to Kumar Kartikeya Singh with a glimmer of hope to solve the muddle.
While they have been hesitant to draft two spinners in the side for the first half of the competition, the sluggish nature of the surface and the wear and tear prompted Rohit to opt for two spin bowling options in the middle overs.
After plying his trade for Madhya Pradesh in the domestic circuit, Kartikeya was included in the Mumbai set-up due to an injury to Arshad Khan.
And guess what, the 24-year old has created an immediate impact as he conceded 19 runs in his four-over spell and scalped the massive wicket of Sanju Samson to dent the Royals.
The left-arm spinner displayed numerous variations in his arsenal to stem the flow of runs and help Mumbai seize the crunch moments in the middle overs.
A detailed analysis of the pitch map helps us understand that Kartikeya bowled 58.3 percent of his deliveries on the good length area and within the stumps, causing great difficulty for the batters to score freely.
With the wicket offering some assistance to the slower bowlers, Mumbai benefitted by having two spinners in their line-up to control proceedings in the middle overs and will be the ideal combination for them heading into the business end of the competition.
Suryakumar Yadav is back where he belongs
While the bowlers were commendable with their effort in the first innings, Mumbai were in dire need of run from their top order. With Ishan Kishan having a dismal outing and Dewald Brevis not playing in this clash, Mumbai handed the responsibility of batting at number three to Suryakumar Yadav.
One of the most consistent players for the side in the recent past, the right-handed batter made optimum use of this opportunity to smash 51 off 39 deliveries studded with five boundaries and two massive hits over the fence to power Mumbai to a win.
In a post-match interview, he said, "I have enjoyed batted at all positions, but I love batting at No. 3 because I can pace my innings accordingly and take the game ahead."
Well, the 31-year old is not wrong, as he consolidated the innings after losing Rohit early and accumulated the ones and the twos before launching an attack in the back end of the innings.
In the 40 innings played thus far for Mumbai at three, he has scored 1097 runs at an average of 31.34, making him one of the most dependable players for the franchise over the past couple of years.
While it is no surprise that Mumbai have endured a poor campaign, a lot of their downfall has been related to the lack of partnerships at the top. With the flamboyant batter coming in at the fall of the first wicket, it allows him and the team an opportunity to settle to the conditions and control the game with his array of strokes.
Did Daryl Mitchell's over cost Rajasthan the game?
The only team to have mastered the art of defending totals, Rajasthan were well in control of the game after dismissing the openers for 41 runs at the end of the powerplay.
While most people expected Samson to hand the ball to Yuzvendra Chahal, the skipper of the Royals opted for Daryl Mitchell and his gentle medium pace.
However, with inexperience in his bowling and the pressure of the game, Mitchell was all over the place and conceded 20 runs, including three boundaries and one six, to shift the momentum in favour of Mumbai.
In the last encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Samson shared insights on his bowling performance, and the reason behind backing him for another match as he conceded only seven runs and his one over was crucial in the context of the game.
After their win against the Challengers, Samson said, "Mitchell's one over was the reason behind the team favouring him over Karun Nair."
While, the Royals boast of a formidable bowling unit comprising some world-class bowlers, one of the glaring issues for the team management would be the form of Trent Boult.
There ain't a doubt that Boult is undergoing a tough time; however, not completing his spell in two consecutive matches and handing Mitchell an over has proved to be costly for the side.
In the first two phases of the game in this edition, Boult has conceded at an economy rate of 6.7 runs per over compared to 13.6 at the death. With the premier bowler not completing the quota of overs, it will be interesting to see the tactics deployed by the Rajasthan in handling Boult and if they would be keen to wrap his spell before the final four overs of the innings.
