Mumbai Indians are now sitting at top of the IPL points table after they defeated Rajasthan Royals at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday. It was some brilliant batting by Aditya Tare that setup the match quite beautifully for Mumbai before some smart bowling from the duo of Mitchell Johnson and Dhawal Kulkarni sealed the match for Mumbai Indians. Stuart Binny and Bard Hodge tried their heart out but RR fell 14 run short in their run chase of 166 runs.

Here we bring to you the hits and flops from the match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

HITS

Aditya Tare: Tare did well in his debut match of IPL-6 as he went on to score 59 runs off 37 balls. He kept taking calculated risks which allowed other batsmen to settle down well. He smashed eight fours and one six in his knock.

James Faulkner: Faulkner was bit expensive with the ball but he pick up couple of wickets for Rajasthan Royals. He gave away 32 runs in his four overs but bagged the big wicket of Rohit Sharma, who was looking in good touch.

Glenn Maxwell: Maxwell started off well as he hit few sixes which gave MI a good start. He departed after scoring 23 runs off which 18 came through sixes.

Shane Watson: Watson did well with the ball as he got the crucial wickets of Maxwell and Rayudu. He bowled well in his four overs and ended up with the figures of 2/30. Though he didn’t performed well with the bat and got out after taking a decent start of 19 runs.

Dhawal Kulkarni: Kulkarni was brilliant with the ball as he gave away just 21 runs in his four overs and picked up the crucial wicket of Rahane and Faulkner. His ability to strike early makes him a dangerous bowler and that’s what he has done till now for Mumbai in IPL-6.

Stuart Binny: Binny remained unbeaten after scoring 37 runs off 29 balls. He scored three fours and one six in his innings and kept his side in the hunt.
 
Mitchell Johnson: Johnson was at his usual best when he dismissed Dravid and Samson in his spell of four overs. He took away the wickets of RR heavy-weights quite early in the innings which didn’t allow the opposition to do much. Mitchell ended up with the figures of 2/23.

Brad Hodge: Hodge played brilliant innings lower down the order and scored 39 runs off just 27 balls. His innings included seven fours which brought his side close to winning this match. But his dismissal in the final over sealed the fate of the match.

FLOPS

Rahul Dravid: Dravid was undone by Johnson in the first over of the innings which made it hard for RR to recover from then onwards. He made a wrong decisions in holding back Hodge for too long as well as making Faulkner play up the order.

Rohit Sharma: Sharma was dismissed by Faulkner after he scored 14 runs off 10 balls. He was looking dangerous though, especially after hitting couple of fours.

Ajinkya Rahane: Rahane departed after scoring four runs and left his side in all sorts of trouble. He went for the big shot but the power behind it was not enough to make it sail over the fence and Kulkarni got his wicket.

Ambati Rayudu: Rayudu departed after scoring seven off seven balls. He kept dealing in ones but he was disguised by Watson really well and was caught at deep mid-wicket by Samson.

Sanju Samson: Samson crumbled under the pressure and was dismissed for just four runs. He was looking to go big which was not that needed and his miss-hit cost him a wicket.

Keiron Pollard: Pollard didn’t do well with the bat as he was dismissed for 17 runs. He smacked one four and one six before he was dismissed by Kevon Cooper who did brilliant work by getting him run-out.

By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network