Led by some incisive bowling early on, Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians by six wickets in their third match of the Indian Premier League 2024 season at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Trent Boult starred with the ball picking 3/11 and 3/22 off their four overs, respectively, to restrict Mumbai Indians to 125/9. Riyan Parag then anchored the chase with an unbeaten 54 off 39 balls to make it three out of three for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024.
Constants in life: pic.twitter.com/LuuGEge58N
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 1, 2024
Opting to bowl first, the Royals had a dream start with Trent Boult sending back Rohit Sharma and Naman Dhir for first-ball ducks in the opening over. Boult picked up Dewald Brevis, Mumbai Indians’ impact substitute, in his next over for his third wicket in the powerplay.
Nandre Burger complemented Boult well with the new ball dismissing Ishan Kishan for 16, as MI were reeling at 20/4 in the fourth over. Hardik Pandya and Tilak Varma then added 56 off 36 balls for the fifth wicket as MI countered the early strikes.
But Chahal and Avesh Khan, playing his 50th IPL match, ensured there was no respite for MI, restricting the run-flow and taking crucial wickets in the middle overs. Burger picked up two wickets conceding 32 runs while Avesh also got one to cap off the Royals’ brilliant display with the ball.
In response, Rajasthan Royals reached 46 runs for the loss of two wickets in their first six overs. Riyan Parag and Ravichandran Ashwin continued from where they left in the last game against Delhi Capitals, putting together 40 runs off 35 balls for the fourth wicket to take the Royals close to the target.
Parag hit five boundaries and three sixes in his unbeaten half-century and added 39 runs with debutant Shubham Dubey for the fifth wicket to earn the Royals’ first victory on the road with 27 balls to spare. Parag also got the Orange Cap as the leading run-scorer in IPL 2024 with 181 runs alongside Virat Kohli.
The Royals have six points from three matches and are currently on top of the IPL 2024 points table.
Rajasthan Royals will face Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their next match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on April 6.
RR vs MI IPL 2024 brief scores: Mumbai Indians 125/9 (Hardik Pandya 34, Tilak Verma 32, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/11, Trent Boult 3/22) lost to Rajasthan Royals 127/4 (Riyan Parag 54*, Akash Madhwal 3/20). Get full RR vs MI scorecard here.
