Suryakumar Yadav’s fifty and Hardik Pandya’s fiery cameo powered Mumbai Indians to 193/4 against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
Mumbai Indians won the toss and opted to bat first. Their regular openers Rohit Sharma and Quiniton de Kock arrived at the crease to start the innings. de Kock who took the strike started his innings by smashing a four off the first delivery he faced off Ankit Rajpoot’s over.
Both Mumbai Indians openers provided a steady start to their team as they reached 29 for loss of no wickets at the end of three overs. India’s U-19 star from the latest World Cup campaign, Kartik Tyagi, was introduced into the attack in the fifth over but was smashed for a six by Rohit over the fence.
The 19-year-old made a great comeback by departing Quinton de kock (23 runs of 15 balls) to get his first wicket in the IPL. The South African skipper tried to pull but a sharp bouncer from Tyagi got his top-edge to return back to the pavilion after playing an entertaining knock to give his team a flying start.
At the end of the powerplay, Mumbai Indians managed to score 57/1 and Rajasthan Royals looked excited and comfortable to have bagged de Kock’s wicket.
Suryakumar Yadav was the next man in and he too seemed aggressive in his approach. The young lad and Rohit both looked in good touch and continued to play fiery strokes to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Spinner Shreyas Gopal bowled a clever delivery to depart Rohit Sharma (35 runs off 23 balls) and provide the big wicket to RR. The star MI opener jumped down the pitch but failed to clear long-on fielder Tewatia.
The spinner got another wicket by dismissing Ishan Kishan for a duck to get back-to-back wickets. Kishan swung the bat hard for a big sweep but got caught out without scoring any runs. Surya Kumar Yadav blocked the hat-trick ball and Krunal was the next man in.
After removing two batsmen quickly, Rajasthan bowlers looked to make deeper inroads. Surya showed his fighting spirit and smashed Gopal for consecutive fours in the 11th over to bring 100-up for Mumbai Indians.
Jofra Archer bowled a lethal short delivery with some extra pace on it to stun Krunal (12), who tried to go for a pull but only managed to hit it to Gopal for a catch inside the circle.
Hardik Pandya joined Surya in the middle and got off the mark with a single. Suryakumar Yadav was back in form as he notched up his fifty — his first of IPL 2020 — by playing a superb shot past the keeper and short third.
Hardik Pandya skied a pull and Tom Curran tried to catch it off his own bowling, but dropped it in the end. As the contest intensified, Hardik evaded an Archer beamer, but Suryakumar Yadav was so lucky – he was hit on the helmet by a slower bouncer.
The duo bagged runs in the last over to help their team reach 193/4.
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